The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace
by kuriboh1233
Summary: What's it Like to go from an absolute hell of a life, one filled with flesh eating zombies, to the normal everyday life of a little girl? What's it like to die at 18 and reawaken as a 9 year old? And on top of that, what's it like to receive a letter from a certain school of Witchcraft & Wizardry that is supposed to exist only in books? Well your about to find out. SI-Self Insert
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Prologue

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Miss. Thomas,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and**

**Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

That's the letter I found sitting on my windowsill when I woke up this morning, delivered oddly enough, by an owl. Now a normal reaction to receiving a letter like this may be to question the whole Witch/Wizard part of it, or the whole how could an owl be trained to deliver letters thing. My reaction was far from normal. It was more alone the lines of screaming "What the F***" and "You have got to be s***ting me" at the top of my lungs with my arms flaying around anime style. Now my name is Angelina Thomas(you can call me Lina), 11 years old, about 4' 5", weighing in at a whopping 75lbs., with pale-ish skin, blue eyes, and ruby red hair. But that has only been true for the last 2 years. Before that my name was John Smith, I know the most cliché white bred name on the planet. Anyway, apparently as Angelina I have been in a coma for 3 years from a car accident that lost me my father, until one I suddenly woke up two years ago.

How does that happen? Well you can ask me how as much you like and you will get the same answer every time. "Fuck if I know." All I know is I was just a regular 18 year old guy, from a place where getting a letter from a school that taught actual magic just didn't happen. Unfortunately where I come from the entire BS that George A. Romero dreamed up did. My last year of life as John was spent running for my life from an endless horde of flesh eating zombies. Watching people left and right dropping like flies. Having to personally put down my own family after my father was bitten and he changed and got to the rest of my family.

The last thing I remember doing is holding up in an elementary school doing my best to protect a few kids who had gotten left there. We held out there for a few months. Just waiting and hoping for some kind of help to arrive. I thanked God, Buddha, Chuck Norris, and anybody else I could think of that I was somewhat of a pyromaniac. We never would have lasted as long as we did without me rigging up random fire bombs with the chemicals from the janitor's closet. Eventually our food supplies started running low and all of us were slowly starving to death. The very last thing I remember seeing is a little girl shaking me and asking me to get up as my body gave out on them. I had been going without eating for some time to keep them fed just a little longer, in the hopes that someone would be able to help them. My last thoughts as I looked into her tear filled eyes as the life left mine were 'I'm Sorry.'

Next thing I know I'm floating in a void of nothingness. No idea if it was for only a few minutes or years. Not sure when but I soon started hearing voices, a woman crying, and a steady beeping sound. I slowly opened my eyes and was nearly blinded by the bright fluorescent lights. I tried to take a breath and start choking a bit from the tube going down my throat. As I try to pull the tube out I am instantly smothered in a bone crushing hug by a sobbing woman with red hair. This was Nancy Thomas, my mother apparently. It appears that I had woken up at just the right time seeing as my body was declared brain dead not too long ago and they were literally seconds away from pulling the plug. It took me a few months to come to terms with me going from an apocalyptic world of bloodshed and horror, to a calm and carefree life….as a 9 year old girl. The coming of this letter has put a lot of the strange things that have been happening to, and around me lately, into prospective.

There was an incident a couple months ago where I was climbing trees, much to my mother's dismay, in my new backyard. She already had an issue with me wanting to take up martial arts the year before, wanting me to stick to dolls, dresses and whatnot. Hey if I was stuck going from an 18 year old guy to a 10 year old girl then I was at least going to be able to take care of my own problems with the a**holes that I knew were going to come around as I grew up. Having come to terms with being a girl I am not ashamed to say, from my observations of the new me I see in the mirror, that I am going to be a looker when I grow up.

Anyway like I was saying, I was climbing a tree when I missed the branch I was going for and slipped and started to fall. I remember thinking S***, S***, S***, S***, and closing my eyes. After a few seconds of not feeling the impact from my body smashing into the ground, I opened my eye; only to see myself slowly floating down to the ground. Now I was a bit freaked out by this as you can imagine, as was my mom who came charging out of the house. She had seen me slip and was, for lack of a better term, freaking the F*** out. Checking me for injuries and generally crying and choking me with the huge relieved hug she was giving me. The next weird thing I can remember is another day last week when I was just sitting in the living room watching "Return of the Jedi" on T.V. I remember the movie ending and then looking for the remote and seeing it on the far side of the coffee table. I was having a lazy moment and didn't want to get up. So I just held out my hand, jokingly trying to use the Force to will the remote into my hand. To say I was shocked when it actually happened may be a bit of an understatement.

So now here I am, with a letter from Hogwarts, complete with a full list of school supplies and an additional note that said a representative from the school would be visiting in a few days to explain things. I swear to god if its Snape he's getting a good kick in the balls! I thought I had a gotten a one in a billion second chance for a peaceful life after the hell I escaped from. But nope I somehow ended up in the world of Harry Potter, and if the date I saw on the calendar is right. I'm right at the beginning of the story. Well F***! I feel like I'm stuck in a bad fanfic, like the ones I used to read in my old life…before it literally went to hell. Thinking about it I really should have seen something like this coming, what with the whole apparent reincarnation type of deal I have going on. Now I've read all of the books a couple of times but not religiously like my sister did, getting so into them that she cried when Dumbledore died, or got all embarrassed and excited when Harry and Ginny kissed for the first time. I went form one hell to the calm before a war breaking out in the near future. Looks like my best bet to stay alive is to get close to the good ole "Golden Trio" and use whatever foreknowledge I can remember to make things just a bit better. Maybe figure out a way to keep Sirius alive or something. God, I really do sound like a bad insert. Well I guess I better get this fic that my life as become on the road.

I sighed before walking over to my mom letter in hand. "Mom, I got this weird letter delivered to me by an owl!"


	2. Platform 975

A/N: Well here's the first chapter of my very first fic. I was never the best writer in school but with the power of spellcheck I hope I can create an entertaining and readable story for everyone to enjoy. No BETA to check this for me but I've done my best double and triple checking everything.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

-Break-

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Chapter 1 Platform 9.75…..I hate fractions

-Break-

I've just come through the barrier on platform 9 ¾ after a tearful goodbye from my mom. My mom found out that Muggles are not able to pass through the barrier to see there magical children onto the train. Suffice it to say that there was a bit of a scene on the other side. It took me a good 20 minutes to calm her down so that I finally get through. Passing through the barrier was just as easy as the movies and books made it out to be. I thought it would feel like treading through water or mud for at least a couple of seconds. Nope, the best comparison I have is it is closer to passing through a hologram from Star Trek.

I start making my way over to the bright red train hoping to find an empty compartment so I can collect my thoughts. After going through a few cabins I find a compartment to have to myself, at least for a little while. After getting my trunk put away and pulling out a book, _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 4_, I want to get to the good stuff already. Levitating stuff is cool and all but I can't wait to be able to blow out a wall or conjure shields, swords and all that good stuff. I'm not really able to focus as my mind keeps getting pulled back to the dream I had last night.

-Flashback-

I'm standing in an endless void of white. "Great, I'm dead again! Well what the hell!"

"No child, you're not dead." I hear a voice call out to me. I look in every direction up and down included. Then suddenly the white shifts to a torch lit cave with a pool of water and at the base of a statue of some old guy's head with a long beard. "Greetings Miss Thomas." I hear the voice behind me I turn around and back away, eyeing the man before me cautiously. He's tall standing at what looks like 6 feet. A giant compared to me. He wears billowing black ropes and is bald with a long beard that looks oddly familiar. I do a double take and look between him and the statue, my eyes widening.

"You're Salazar Slytherin!" I yell and the sound echoes around the room.

"Yes..." he addresses me. "…and I am here to tell you why you have brought you to this world." I freeze at his words.

"So you're the reason I ended up waking up after I distinctly remember dying?" my confusion rapidly growing at his declaration.

"Yes but it was not only me." At his words three glowing lights; one red, one blue, and one yellow; descend from the ceiling, blinding me for a moment before they take shape. The red takes the form of man, clad in crimson robes with short black hair. An amused glint in his eye accompanied by a huge s*** eating grin. Picture a competent Lockhart from COS, if that's possible, and you have the man before me. The blue light turns into a rather petite woman in sky blue robes with long raven black hair falling around her shoulders. Glasses and a timid smile help to calm me down just a little bit. The last light takes the form of a rather tall buxom blonde in canary yellow robes. Probably has never heard the word modesty in her life. Her rather ample chest constrained and threatening to fall out of the top of her robes any minute. Not afraid to admit that I had trouble keeping my eyes on her face.

"Okay, so…..WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" my arms flailing around every which way. "WHO THE HELL ARE ALL OF YOU?" The blonde squeals and rushes over and glomps the hell out of me, picking me up, swinging me around and suffocating the hell out of me with her…uh…assets. As my vision begins to darken she holds me at arm's length.

"Oh my god she is so cute!" she squeals at me again.

"Helga, please try and control yourself." The one in blue says to her as the red one lets out a loud bark of laughter.

"Oh Rowena, you know you just want to hug her to pieces." her arm now around my shoulders smiling at the other woman.

"Can we please get along to why we are all here?" Slytherin asks calmly with a slight tick mark above his head.

"I agree…" the red one says "…but first introductions!" he exclaims loudly then points to himself. "I am Godric Gryffindor. And these two lovely ladies are Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff." pointing to the other two in turn. Rowena smiles and nods her head at me while Helga squeezes me tighter, somewhat crushing my head with the side of her breast again.

Pulling away from them I ask "Okay so you four are the founding fathers/mothers of Hogwarts?" They all nod at me "The same Hogwarts that isn't supposed to exist in anything but a book?"

"Yes, just as how the dead walking and feasting on the flesh of the living was only supposed to be stories?" Salazar says quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Okay you got me there." I conceded "Now how and why did I end up here and as a girl for that matter."

"That would be our doing young one." Rowena answers somewhat solemnly as the others lose their smiles somewhat. "What do you know of other realities?" Somewhat confused I answer with the vague understanding I have on the subject, after hearing many different versions of the whole multiverse theory from various venues; comics, books, movies, etc.

"You mean the whole there are an infinite number of alternate universes and realities. One for every possible variable that pops up or every decision that can and will be made?"

"Yes and you are mostly right." Godric answers. Picking up where he let off Helga continues.

"There is also the theory that every legend, myth, or story that has ever been told is really that persons subconscious seeing the future and past events of a different reality. No one really knows how their minds are able to connect and witness these events but it happens. You have knowledge of one such case." she says seriously.

Head tilting to the side. "Ok you lost me there." confusion evident in my eyes.

"SO CUTE!" squealing again Helga attempts to rush and envelope me in her marsh mellow goodne…I mean chest, yes chest. Only to be driven to the floor with a rather large bump on the head from Salazar's fist.

"We don't have all night here. Let's tell her what we need to tell her and be done with it." He yells, tic mark growing to epic proportions.

"Right, well the one you know as J.K. Rowling is one such person who was able to see the events of another world, our world or at least one version of it." Godric explains "Just as there are an infinite number of alternate realities there are an infinite number of timelines for each reality. The world of ours you are familiar with is one of the very few where Voldemort has been defeated." Rowena, taking over, continues to explain.

"After you died in your world we were able to pull your soul from limbo and integrate it into the empty body of your counterpart here in our reality, and yes you are a female in this world." she says to me, sweat dropping at the swirls she sees in my eyes. Helga decides to dumb it down for me.

"Basically the you here died at the same time you died so we were able to transplant you from the you there into the you here." She says smiling proudly at her explanation, as the rest of us anime drop at her poor explanation. Getting up Rowena pulls out her wand and conjures a large amount of fireflies.

"Helga, sweetie why don't you go and see how many you can catch, if you get a hundred we'll get some ice cream later Okay?"

"YAY!" She screams as she starts skipping around trying to catch the fireflies as the rest of us look on with sweat drops.

"How she is the best of us at dueling I will never know." Salazar mutters "Anyway there are a few reasons as to why we have brought you here after your untimely death. This timeline is one where Voldemort is failed to be defeated and eventually he conquers the world."

"Wait. Isn't he your rightful heir? What with being a parselmouth and being able to control you basilisk? Shouldn't you be all supportive of him and not caring if he manages to rule the planet?" I ask extremely confused while trying to keep my attention on him and not the bouncing form of Helga Hufflepuff.

"There are two reasons why I want him defeated in this particular timeline. One is his use of Horcruxs. To put it in terms for you to understand, no heir of mine is to be a whiny little b**** afraid of death." He says with the most serious expression I have ever seen. Everyone else stares at him blinking owlishly before we all fall down laughing. I never expected the great Salazar Slytherin to use teenage trash talk. Turning red and with his tic mark reforming he screams at us. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" needless to say we all shut our mouths. Calming down he continues "the second reason is in this timeline if he succeeds he eventually becomes far more power hungry than he is now. He begins experiments on the Veil that lies within The Department of Mysteries at The Ministry of Magic. This Veil is a link to the void between dimensions, the place you remember being before you awoke here. His experiments trigger a chain reaction that destroys our universe. Not just this timeline but the entirety of our reality, all of them. If this happens then our world really will only exist as a story in a book."

Jaw dropping I respond oh so elegantly "DAFAQ!" I calm down and continue "Okay I can understand your reasons, now how do I fall into all of this? I am currently just a little girl, and I'm still working on coming to terms with that. Not looking forward to getting my first period" I mutter.

"As you know we are dead, but each of us were extremely powerful magic users in our time. When we died each of us became a sort of guardian of our reality. So we cannot directly interfere and just kill Voldemort off ourselves." Godric answers "In fact bringing you here with your foreknowledge is dangerously close to breaking the fundamental laws of time and space. We need you to be our hand in the living world to help guide the Light to the defeat of Voldemort to prevent our realities collapse."

"Again…..little girl…..one who even in her past life was no one special." I ask still not seeing how, even with what I know; I can make a difference.

"You have three things going for you that will help you out." Godric explains matter of factually "One, you are about to attend a school where you will be taught magic." I facepalm at this, how could I forget that I ask myself.

"Two…" Rowena continues "…the journey of your soul across dimensions as strengthened your magical core and has advanced it well past what it should be now. My estimates put it at about double the size it should be for your current age."

"Three, we have looked into your memories of other realities you have knowledge of through the different stories of your world." Salazar adds confusing me.

"How does that help me at all?" I ask. Helga returns to the conversation with a jar filled with fireflies.

"Because silly, after going through all your memories we were able to recreate one of the abilities of a world you know." She says to me. "Although it isn't active right now, it will activate sometime in the future when you really need it." I open my mouth to ask a question but she cuts me off. "No we can't tell you what it is we gave you silly." She giggles at me.

"Awwww why not" I pouted, big mistake as I am, once again glomped almost to death.

"It's another one of those pesky cross dimensional rules. Again we came really close to breaking them completely and destroying all reality." Rowena finishes as I finally escape and take a much needed breath of air.

"Okay" I gasp "I guess I understand all of that. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Yes the last thing that has been worked out is your knowledge of the future." Salazar speaks up. "After you wake up from here all of your foreknowledge will be sealed away." I open my mouth to protest but am cut off "Let me finish! It will be cutoff to you until the time it is needed. Things like knowledge of the Horcruxs and their identities and locations. Knowing Sirius Black is innocent and that Peter Pettigrew is a pet rat. This will prevent you from making drastic changes that could ruin all of our work. Like attempting to take things on too soon thus getting you killed before you are ready. Oh and after you wake up you will have absolutely no memory of us just a vague understanding of what you need to do." he finishes while I slowly nod my head.

"Alright I guess that makes sense…..I think."

"Well our time is up, farewell!" Godric exclaims while clapping his hands once as he starts to glow once again. I look around as the others also begin to glow. Before I know it I am glomped by Helga one more time before she changes to light.

"So long little cutie!" she cheers to me.

"Goodbye Child." Rowena says nodding goodbye.

"Don't mess this up." is all I get out of Salazar as he too disappears. Slowly the Chamber of Secrets fades away and soon I am waking up in my bed.

-End Flashback-

Shaking my head as the memory ends 'That is one of the weirdest dreams I have ever had…..now if only I can remember what the hell it was about.' I muse as the door to my compartment opens and a kid with black hair and glasses enters.

"Do you mind if I sit here, this is the first cabin I've found with seats." He asks me. Shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly I motion for him to take a seat. 'Well meeting up with him was easier than I thought it would be.' I think to myself as he introduces himself.

"Hi I'm Harry…Harry Potter." He holds out his hand out to me.

"I'm Angelina Thomas just call me Lina I'm not too big a fan of my full name." I shake his hand smiling as I introduce myself. "So is it your first year at Hogwarts too?" I ask him trying to be friendly.

"Yes it is, I just found out about all of this…" he gestures to the rest of the train and the people outside"…not too long ago."

"Same here it has only been a few days for me. I just finished getting all of my supplies yesterday." We continue chatting for a few minutes, mostly about the differences we both have notice between Muggles and Wizards/Witches. Soon after the train begins to leave the station the door to our compartment opens up again and short redhead walks in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." Harry and I shook our heads no and the boy sat down and I returned to my book. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked.

'Not as subtle as you think you are.' I thought as I witnessed this transaction from behind my book. As soon as that thought goes through my mind the door opens once again, thus enters a set of tall red headed twins.

"Hey, Ron." they address my second cabin companion. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry and Madame," said the other twin looking between harry and myself, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye." Well call out to them as they slide the compartment door shut behind them.

'They never asked me my name.' I think, annoyance crossing my features.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

'I was right subtly is beyond your skill set Ron.' I thought as Harry nodded.

"Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…" He pointed to Harry's forehead. Harry pulled back his hair to show the lightning bolt shaped scar. Ron staring wide eyed.

"So that's where You-Know-Who —?"

"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.

"Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow," said Ron.

As this little back and forth is going on I can't help but be annoyed. The kids sitting here treating him like he's some kind of side show at a carnival. Not to mention he never introduced himself to me either. If it's one thing I have a lot of trouble dealing with its being ignored. Tick mark throbbing and growing by the second I but into their conversation.

"So were you ever gonna get around to introducing yourself?" probably sounding a lot more b****y than I meant to be. Ron's ears went pink when he realized his rudness.

"Right, sorry about that. Ron Weasley." He says putting out his hand to us while the other one scratches the back of his head Naruto style. Trying very hard to not laugh at the mental image of Ron with whisker, I shake his hand.

"Angelina Thomas, call me Lina. And this is Harry Potter, but you knew that already huh?" I ask brow raised. He and Harry laugh and just like that the awkwardness passes and were talking without a care in the world. The conversation goes to us talking about our families. Ron seemed interested in knowing what it was like growing up with Muggles. Harry didn't really want to talk about his relatives and I couldn't blame him. I directed the question to myself and started telling them what it was like living with my mom. About not remembering the first few years of my life before I woke up from my coma. Which is true since before I woke up I wasn't Lina.

Ron is soon telling us about himself. How he is the youngest of 6 brothers and having a younger sister. How he feels a little overwhelmed trying to live up to all the things his older brothers have accomplished during their time at Hogwarts. He didn't quite phrase it like that but that's how I took it. Ron went on to explain how he almost never got anything new and how everything he had was a hand-me-down.

"I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat." Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out the window again. Staring at the rat I couldn't help feeling a sense of Déjà vu. Shaking my head I return to my book. 'Hmm **Reducto**, now were talking' barley containing my smirk I continued reading zoning out of the conversation not coming back to it until I hear Ron's gasp of surprise. I look between them brow raised once again.

"What?" Harry asks him.

"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —"

"I'm not trying to be braveor anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn…I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."

"You won't be. There are loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quickly enough.

"Take me for example." I offer getting back into the conversation. "My mom and dad were both Muggles as far as I know. Now this is a spell from somewhere in the middle of our charm books." I take out my wand and point it at Ron's rat. "**Wingardium Leviosa.**" I chant as the rat, still sleeping mind you, slowly starts floating a foot in the air before he is set down gently on the sit next to Ron. Both boys look at me with stunned looks.

"How did you do that!" they both ask in unison excitedly.

"Don't know." I reply making them both anime drop as they get up I can't help but giggle. "All I did was read and practice a lot." I tell them. "That one took me a couple of days to get, probably would have been better if I started at the beginning of the book and not the end huh?" I ask scratching my head awkwardly as they stare.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaims excitedly, Harry nodding along with a smile on his face.

"It really was." He says to me causing me to blush a bit from their praise. After a while the food cart comes around and Harry stocks up on a ton, and I do mean, a ton of food. He grabbed everything of Chocolate Frogs to Licorice Wands. It was a feast fit for the gods in my humble opinion. Harry and I even got our first taste of the wizard's moving pictures looking at the cards that come with the Chocolate Frogs.

"He's gone!" we both say in surprise. The picture of Dumbledore that we were looking at having disappeared moments ago.

"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her…do you want it? You two can start collecting." I shake my head no as Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.

"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." Me nodding in agreement.

"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!" There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy came in looking like someone kicked his puppy.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" We all shook our heads and he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"We'll keep an eye out okay." I add

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" he says as he leaves.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." Earning a small giggle from me and a chuckle from Harry.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Hey Lina what kind of wand was yours?" Ron asks me. I pull my wand back out for them to look at.

"Mr. Olivander said it was Sakura Tree wood with a Kitsune Fang as its core. He told me it's been sitting in his shop for about 80 years since his grandfather made it from materials he picked up from an oversea trip to Japan."

"What's a Kitsune?" Harry asks me.

"From what I've read they are a breed of magic foxes native to Japan, that are masters of Illusion and love playing pranks on people." I answer them.

"Wow, I'm surprised that wand didn't choose Fred or George, they're both huge pranksters. Anyway —" He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and slightly larger teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down next to me. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er — all right." he muttered nervously as he cleared his throat.

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." **He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells myself just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such asurprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school ofwitchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast, my eyes spinning a bit as I tried to process her rapid output of information. Harry looked at Ron and me, and was relieved to see by our stunned faces that we hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.

"Damn I'm reading ahead to 4th year stuff and I'm not even close to having one course book memorized." I tell her very impressed. "My names Angelina Thomas call me Lina or you'll get hurt." I add in a sing song voice with a smile that clearly says I'm joking. Hermione returns my smile a little nervously and looks to the boys.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History _and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_."

"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk.

"Well I like her; she seems nice if a little bossy. Plus she's cute so that's always a plus." I muse before noticing their confused stares. "Did I say that out loud?" I blush.

"Anyway, what house are your brothers in?" Harry asked Ron me listening too.

"Gryffindor," said Ron, looking ready to go back to Emo mode. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw _would _be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.

"Hmm I wonder what House I will end up in?" I ask out load knowing that I'll be following Harry wherever he ends up.

"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yea what kind of jobs could I get waving my magic stick around?" I asked him curiously.

"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the _Daily Prophet_, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault." Harry stared. My jaw dropped.

"Really? What happened to them?"/ "Are they retarded?" Harry and I asked at the same time.

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

'Okay, another case of Déjà vu. First the rat and now Gringotts.' Chewing my bottom lip as I try to figure out why this sounds so familiar. 'And seriously who would want to piss off the Goblins like that? Dumb*** must have a death wish.' I shake my head and return to the conversation.

"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked each of us.

"Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.

"What's Quidditch?" I ask smirking on the inside wondering what his face will look like at our declarations.

"What!" Ron looked like he caught both of us kicking his puppy and sacrificing his kitten to the devil. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. Spouting out all these facts as fast as Hermione was earlier. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game, I zoned out awhile back, when the compartment door slid open yet again.

'What is this F***ing Grand Central Station' I thought irritably. This time it wasn't Neville or Hermione but three new boys. One pale looking kid with bleach blonde hair and two big and tall guys with the whole rent-a-thug look going for them. The pale kid was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than either one of us was comfortable with.

.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry looking between the pale boys and his entourage.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry and I were looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Harry and I, leering a bit to intensely in my direction for my taste. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

Smirking I throw in my two Knuts. "You heard the man take a hike before you hurt yourself." Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what's good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys, Hagrid, and this Mudblood, and it'll rub off on you." Well that was my que, I stood up quickly alongside Ron and Harry. But I didn't stop there I rushed forward and reached out and grabbed. Malfoys eyes widen staring into mine as I glare at him.

"Be very careful about what you say next. Otherwise This may be the last generation for you family." I smile sadistically as I twist my hand just enough to increase the pressure.

"Alright we'll go." He says to me nervously as him and his thugs back away slowly with me following not loosening my grip until there outside and I slam the door in their faces. Malfoy glares at me one last time before they leave. Both boys bust out laughing while patting me on the back.

"That was bloody amazing did you see his face!" Ron gets out in between his fits of laughter. Harry just leaning against the wall trying to breathe.

"That will teach em not to start something they can't finish." I shrug my shoulders and the door opens…yet again, and Hermione comes in.

"What has been going on?" Her brow rising as she spies the retreating forms of Malfoy and his goons down the hall.

"Nothing…just playing a little handball," I say innocently. This causes the boys to fall down laughing again and a confused look to cross Hermione's face. I smile and pat her on the shoulder. "Don't worry sweetie I'll explain it to you later if you like." I leave the cabin so the boys can get changed and chat with Hermione for a few minutes until it's my turn. Leaving a red faced Hermione after my explanation on how to play handball. Shortly after were all dressed a voice echoes through the train informing us of our immediate arrival to Hogwarts. Bidding goodbye to Hermione with promises to talk some more later we all get ready to leave.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Many of us shivering in the cold night air, until a lamp is seen bobbing over the heads of the students, and a loud booming voice is heard. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right here, Harry?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Many of us, me included are slipping and sliding as we try to keep up with Hagrid's huge strides down a narrow and steep path. "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" as we came around the corner and onto the coast of the black lake. My brain went utterly quiet for a few moments at the first sight of Hogwarts. The movies have nothing on the real thing. Picture the castle at Disney Land surrounded by fireworks on the 4th of July, multiply that by 10 and you don't even have half of what my first view of Hogwarts was like.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out to us, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Ron and I were joined in our boat by Hermione. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. All of us were silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over us as we sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. "Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; everyone needing to bend their heads down besides me, I am short enough to not need too, and the little boats carried us through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.

We were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking us right underneath the castle, until we reached what looked to be a kind of underground harbor, where everyone exited out onto rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people were climbing out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville holding out his hands. I observe the happy reunion with a smile and a shake of my head. We all walk up a huge flight of stone steps and crowd around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

'Well here we go.' I gulped as the journey I am about to begin finally sinks in. As the door swings open to reveal the stern face of who can only be Professor McGonagall one last thought crosses my mind as we enter the castle. 'Bring it on!'


	3. A Ass and a Hat

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**Spells**

-Break-

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Chapter 02: An Ass and a Hat

-Break-

'Ah gotta love standing around in a dark and unfamiliar corridor.' I think sarcastically while observing my fellow first years and our current surroundings. As I look around I notice a lot of nervous and out right terrified faces(Neville). I am only half way interested when the house ghost arrive to make small talk and attempt to recruit us for their various houses. Boredom growing rapidly my thoughts become more random. 'I wonder if the house elves can make Chinese food or Pizza, OH! What about tamales?' My mouth watering at the idea of finding the kitchens and hopefully having an answer to my questions, preferably with a sample.

It's not long until the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall pulls me out of my food induced fantasies.

"Now, form a line and follow me." She instructs us as the large doors in front of us open. My first glimpse of the Great Hall leaves me in awe, much like the first view of the Castle itself, is far more amazing than the movies or books could make. It was lit by thousands upon thousands of floating candles with the four long tables that represent each house in the middle of the hall. Each table packed full of older students, each student with shiny golden plates and goblets just waiting for the word to be magically filled. The enchanted ceiling is just as amazing as I imagined it to be. Staring at get makes me feel slightly dizzy staring into the vastness of space.

"It's enchanted to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts, a History_." Hermione noticing my staring leans in and whispers this to me, bringing me back down to earth. I drape an arm over her shoulder giving her a half hug, thanking her for the info, causing her to blush a bit.

We are all led up to the front of the room to a fifth table which is where the staff is waiting. Each observing us with different expressions ranging from indifference to loathing, I'll give you three guesses of who that is but you will only need one. All of us are lined up in front of the staff table facing the 2nd to 7th year students. Soon after being lined up Professor McGonagall produces a small stole and places a ratty looking hat on it. 'Damn the sorting hat is uglier than I thought it would be' I muse silently as a rip opens up and the hate starts singing. 'Watching the hat actually singing is making me question if this is all real or if someone slipped me a mickey somewhere and this is nothing but a drug induced dream.'

As the hats song comes to an end I hear Ron whisper to Harry about hearing that they had to fight a troll. I stifle a giggle at this, 'So naïve Ron...' Soon McGonagall pulls out a list of names and begins calling us up to sit down and try on the hat to get sorted into the different houses. Some only take a few seconds for it to shout out each house name. Others take a few minutes longer. Hermione and I smile at each other as her name is called and she rushes to the stool and slams the hat onto her head. After about a minute the hat calls out Gryffindor. A moan from Ron earns a sharp glare from me and he averts his gaze quickly. I join in with the Gryffindor's applauding Hermione joining their house.

I notice Harry starting look paler and paler as each name is called, getting closer to his turn. I pat him on the shoulder and when he looks my I send him, what I hope, is a reassuring smile. It seems to work as his shoulders relax a bit and he perks back up. All my hard work is undone the second his name is called and the whole hall goes silent. As he makes his way to the stool I hear everyone whispering and asking each other if he's really THE Harry Potter. This annoys me somewhat, 'Of course he's Harry Potter, with how long Professor McGonagall has been doing this I think she knows how to read…' I scowl in annoyance. '…Idiots!'

Harry takes the longest by far and I can just make out his whispers of not Slytherin before the hat calls out Gryffindor. I applaud along with the Gryffindor's as Harry hurries over and takes a seat near the ghostly form of Nearly Headless Nick.

"Thomas, Angelina." Finally my name is called as I make my way to the stool and place the hat on my head. Not long after I hear a voice in my head talking to me.

'Oh ho, what have we hear? An otherworld traveler, been a few hundred years since we've had one here. Ugly you say? If I wasn't just a hat I might take offence of that.' The hat chuckles quietly while I blush. 'Oh you do have you're work cut out for you, you must be special if my creators have gone through the trouble to summon you here.'

'What was that last bit?' I cut the hat off, wondering just what in the hell it's talking about.

'Ah it seems that knowledge has been blocked from you well it's not my place to question the founders.' It replies to me confusing me even more. 'Well you would do well in any one of the houses but there can only be one choice for you…' "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yells out as more applause, though nowhere near as loud as Harry's accompanies me on my walk to my table. Taking the seat by Hermione I give her a quick side hug in greeting and shake a few hands that are offered to me. A few more names are called until its Ron's turn and he is quickly sorted to Gryffindor. As the stool and hat are taken away Dumbledore stands to address the entire great hall.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

I hear Harry asking who I guess is Percy, judging from the red hair and prefect badge, if Dumbledore is a bit nuts. Percy basically calls him a Mad Scientist err Wizard. I can't help but adding my own 2 Knuts.

"I don't know, he may just have something a little stronger than pumpkin juice in his goblet." This earns a few laughs as well as a slight scowl from both Percy and Hermione. Not long after my joke all of the plates and goblets are magically filled with all kinds of food and drink. I withdraw from anymore conversation and grab a little of everything; which fills roughly three plates, and dig in with gusto, earning more than a few wide eyed stares.

"Where do you put it all?" a boy asks me, Justin I think his name is.

"Don't know…" I respond after taking a few more minutes to finish what's on my plate, "…my mom says that I have a high metabolism. I'm just hoping that when I'm older it all goes to my boobs." I tell the people around me with a completely serious look, causing a few people around me to anime drop. A few of the older girls around me start laughing and return my sentiments.

With dinner winding down with the end of dessert Dumbledore has us all rise to sing some asinine song that I think is supposed to be about school spirit. Wasn't really paying attention; so while everyone else sang, I escaped back into my fantasies of finding an Elf that can do Chinese Food. Not snapping out of my trance until Hermione shakes my shoulder.

"Lina are you okay?" she asks me, a worried look donning her face.

"Yea I'm alright, just a lit…" I fight back a yawn, "…little tired is all. It's been a long day."

"First years, first years follow me." Percy calls out to the first years. Hermione helps me to my feet as we leave to follow our group. As we make our way to the Gryffindor common room Percy is attempting to educate us, spouting off random facts about Hogwarts in general and some of the different portraits that we pass. Quickly growing tired of his ramblings I start humming a random jingle from T.V.

"Oh look at the itty bitty firsties!" an obnoxiously high voice interrupts my masterful rendition of the Oscar Meyer Weiner song. After the short altercation with Hogwarts' resident Poltergeist we come to the end of a corridor where a portrait of some fat chick in the ugliest dress I have ever seen is hung.

"Password?" she looks to Percy and asks.

"Caput Draconis." And just like that the picture opens to the extremely cozy looking Gryffindor common room. "Well everyone, off to bed now. Girls up the left staircase boys the right."

Telling Harry and Ron goodnight, I head up the stairs together with Hermione seeing various doors with nameplates of who goes where. I notice Hermione's eyes light up a bit as she reads the names on the next door.

"Oh Lina, you and I are together!" She says excitedly with a smile. I return the smile and open the door and follow her into what I assume will be our home here at Hogwarts for the next seven years. The room is just big enough to comfortably fit two people. Both halves of the room are identical. One four poster bed and side table with a desk on either side of the room. In the middle of the wall opposite the entrance there is a large shared bookshelf with a second door next to it, most likely leading to the bathroom. Looking to one of the beds I see my trunk and other belongings already here.

Hermione and I begin the arduous task of unpacking and organize each of our sides. Granted it's not as bad as packing it all up but still annoying nonetheless. After that's all taken care of we both take a seat on my bed to get to know one another.

"Soooo…" Hermione starts off nervously, "…what are some of the things you like to do?"

I give her a big smile to try and help her relax a bit. "Nothing too fancy; I mostly like to read books, practice my martial arts, and just take a nap under a tree on a nice day.

"I like reading a lot too, more so after finding out I was a witch. There is just so much to learn. Not just about magic, but also the culture, history, how the government operates, finding out which animals and races we've only believed to be legends and stories are real. Martial Arts also sound's interesting. I've thought about learning some form of self-defense but…" this went on for a few more minutes until I decided to silence her…Itachi style. That's right, I held up my index and middle finger together and gently poked her forehead. She gives me a confused look and tilts her head sideways at me.

'Huh it actually works,' smirking internally. "Hermione I can tell that you're very passionate about subjects you enjoy, and I love the way your eyes light up when you're excited about something. But honey, you need to remember to breathe once in a while." Seeing her blush and avert her gaze I get a wicked idea in my head and continue. "I don't want you passing out on me from lack of oxygen. I'm sure you don't want to perform mouth to mouth on you… unless of course that was your plan all along." I finish waggling my eyebrows suggestively.

At my words her face could rival any tomato. "Witch!" she yells before grabbing a pillow and knocking me over the head.

"And proud of it." I fire back while retaliating with my own pillow. After a good ten minutes of pillow war we both decide its best to get to bed. Yawning as I climb under the covers my last thoughts as I lull off to sleep to the sound of my roommates' quiet snores are, 'I think I have a new best friend."

-Break-

"Food, food, food, La la la lala." I sing excitedly as me and Hermione make our way down to breakfast after a long week of classes. My first week here at Hogwarts has been interesting. The classes were just as I thought they would be. Herbology was alright, though I was never a fan of gardening. Defense Against the Dark Arts is a joke can't understand the Sinbad looking wannabe at all. Transfiguration is fun though I could only change my matchstick's color so far. Astronomy is interesting; my only problem with it is we have to be up at midnight for it, so we don't get back for bed until 1:30. That and our first class the next day is not a good combination. History of Magic first thing after a night of Astronomy is not fun. Professor Binns just drones on and on, goblins this and goblins that. I asked the Weasley twins if they have ever heard him mention anything besides goblins.

-Flashback-

"Oi! Fred, George can I ask you something?"

"Why Miss Lina…" Fred or George starts.

"…we do believe…" George or Fred continues

"…you have just …"

"…asked us something." They finish in unison.

"You know…" I start eye twitching slightly. "…that is more annoying than Ron said it was." All I get from my statement is the two big s*** eating grins.

"You had a question for us?" One of them asks me, grin still in place.

Twitching a bit still I ask my question. "Okay so I just got done with History of Magic, and I was wondering if he talks about anything besides the goblins?"

Both give me a thoughtful look. "You know we asked a 7th year that same question our first year…"

"She told us that she couldn't remember him talking about anything but the goblins."

"So the class should really be called History of Goblins?" I ask with a sweat drop.

"It appears so…" Fred or George answers.

"…and you're stuck…"

"…with it until…"

"…you take your O.W.L.s…"

"…in your 5th year." They finish together again.

Noticing my broken look with accompanying storm cloud above my head they try to cheer me up. "Oh don't look so glum, here have a pastry." George or Fred offers.

Smiling a bit I thank them and take a bite.

-End Flashback-

Let me just say, avoid red heads bearing sweets. I spent the next couple of hour's orange with green hair. I looked like Oompa Lupa with how short I was. I spent the better part of an hour chasing them. Stupid long legs giving them such large strides. Looking back on it, it was pretty funny.

Finally making it to the great hall I grab my now trademark, three plates of food and dig in; idly listening to the various conversations around me. Amusing myself by throwing out random comments, that often has no rhyme or reason besides making me laugh from the confused stares given to me.

"How are you always one of the first people here?" Harry asks me as he and Ron start filling up a plate each.

"This is the first day we haven't gotten ourselves lost coming down here."

Smiling as I finish off my last bit of bacon before answering, "It's food and me. Nice simple math there, no way am I getting lost when there's food to be had." Both just stare at me sweat dropping. "What classes do we have today?" I ask changing the subject.

"Looks like Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "My brothers told me Snape favors them since he's their Head of House."

"Wish McGonagall favored us," Harry mutters. "She really piled on the homework the other day."

"Maybe we should try the whole bribing her with an apple thing." I suggested not looking forward to more stacks of homework that big.

"I think that kind of bribe would only work on you or Ron, Lina." Harry responds with a smirk.

"Oi!" Ron and I glare at him. Chuckling Harry begins to pet Hedwig who arrived with the rest of the Owls to deliver the morning mail. Feeding her a bit of bacon he picks up a letter that she dropped on his plate.

"It's from Hagrid," Harry informs us. "Inviting me to have tea with him today. Do you guys want to come and meet Hagrid?"

Ron shrugs his shoulders, "Sure, have nothing else planned today."

"Sorry, I already have plans to meet with Hermione in the Library today." I answer a little remorsefully.

"I don't know why you hang out with here," Ron scowls a bit. "I mean all she does is sit in the library or the common room reading. It's weird."

Smiling sickening sweet; I place a hand on his shoulder and squeezing just enough for him to feel it without hurting. "What's wrong with reading, I love to read too. Does that make me weird too?" Ron just stares at me, unnerved. "There are all kinds of great things you can find in books." Taking out my wand I tap it on his head muttering a spell I found last night. "Well I'll see you guys in class," I call over my shoulder as I get up to leave. As I reach the doors I hear the Gryffindor table burst out laughing. 'My hair changing charm must have kicked in. Pink Mohawk…classic!' I think giggling like a schoolgirl…which is entirely accurate now that I think about it.

-Break-

Taking a seat by Hermione in the dark and dank dungeon that serves as our Potions classroom, I smirk at Ron who is glaring at me.

"What's that all about?" Hermione asks, noticing the look I was receiving. Giggling quietly I explain what happened minus what Ron was saying about her. Her lips twitch slightly before she fights back the smile and starts a mini-lecture about why what I did was wrong. Smiling I just wink and wave her off.

It's not too long before Snape walks in; cape billowing, in what I have to admit, is a bad*** way. Like the other teachers we had before he begins with roll call, pausing when he reaches Harry's name.

"Ah…yes, Harry Potter. Our new…celebrity," he says the word with a sneer. This causes me to narrow my eyes a bit while Malfoy and his ***kissers snigger.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. Speaking in barely a whisper, but we caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape seemed to have a gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

This cause me to roll my eyes, but I do here a smile audible gulp come from Neville's direction, and I can almost feel Hermione's will to prove herself.

"Potter," Snape calls loudly making many of us jump. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"I don't know sir." Harry answers, this causes Snape to sneer and he purposefully ignores Hermione's hand in the air. Both of which slowly starts to irritate me.

"Clearly fame isn't everything."

'The hell is his problem!' my jaw clenches a bit.

Still ignoring Hermione's hand he continues asking questions that I'm pretty sure he knows that Harry doesn't know. From the skimming of my own Potions book I don't remember hearing about any of these ingredients. Besides the bezoar I think everything else isn't even mentioned until later years. The combination of ignoring one friend and verbally assaulting another one pushes me way past pissed off!

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"I don't know," and before Harry can continue I start going off.

"You know what," I state loudly. "It's kinda obvious that he doesn't know the answer since it seems you are intentionally asking him to know 3rd+ material. Which would be almost impossible for him to know being raised outside of the Wizarding world." My outburst causes jaws to drop and Snape's glare to transfer from Harry to myself. "Why don't you ask the one person in the class who obviously knows the answer?" I gesture to Hermione, while glaring back. "Do you get some kind of sick pleasure from verbally abusing children?"

"Twenty points from Gryffindor, now all of you sit down, shut up, and begin brewing your boil cures." He flicked his wand at the chalk board at the front of class and instructions appeared.

'A**HOLE!'

He walked around watching us begin our work; weighing and crushing various ingredients to add to our cauldrons, pretty much insulting everyone's skill besides Malfoy. This causes Malfoy's already over inflated ego to grow as he smirks.

"Little prick probably puts in extra credit time under Snape's desk." I mutter while chopping up my mistletoe.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asks me, causing me to sputter, blush and look away.

"I'll tell you later if you like," still not meeting her eyes. Nodding she continues her work.

Suddenly a cloud of acid green smoke began filling up the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was now seeping across the floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Everyone jumped up on their stools to avoid the caustic fluid spreading out. Neville who had gotten hit full on when the cauldron melted moaned in pain.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose. "Girl," he snaps at me. "Get this lunkhead to the hospital wing. Glaring at him I assist Neville out the door.

"Oh and another twenty points from Gryffindor, for the cheek you showed me earlier." He adds with an almost smile.

"Just what kind of cheeks are you talking about?" I ask him my eyes growing cold. "Should I inform Professor McGonagall that I feel unsafe in your class? That I worry for my chastity…what with your inappropriate comments about certain areas of my body?" Eyebrow rising and earning a few sniggers from around the room.

. "GET OUT!" he snarls at me visibly shaking with rage.

"Gladly! Come on Neville," grabbing his boil-less hand I drag him out of the classroom slamming the door on my way out.

-Break-

Later that night I was lying on my bed with a book open on my lap, wand out and a glass of water. Tapping the glass with my wand, muttering a spell I found to turn water into ice and getting no results. After one last failed attempt I gave up and downed the water. Getting up grabbing some pajamas and towels I head to the shower. After a good half hour of soaking under the hot water to ease the tension of the day away I get out and begin drying off. I take the time to admire myself in the mirror. Doing a few poses I remember seeing in magazines, some that probably aren't age appropriate or intended to be done naked.

'I don't know if I'm being conceited or not but I am gonna be HOT once puberty has her way with me.' After I do a few more poses I begin getting dressed, the door opens and Hermione walks in. Not really paying attention to her surroundings, she begins undressing while I freeze. It takes a few moments before she notices me. She looks at her half naked form, then me, herself, and me once again.

"KYAA!" she covers up with her towel and runs out the door. "Sorrysorrysorrysorry," I hear her apologizing from the other side of the door. I finish getting dressed and exit out into our room, our eyes lock for a moment and we both freeze cheeks turning scarlet.

"L-Lina, I-I-I am so s-sorry. I w-wasn't paying at-t-tention at a-all!" she stutters out an apology blushing madly.

"It's alright," I respond quietly averting my eyes and losing the fight with my own blush. "Were both girls so…no harm done, right?" This seems to calm her down a little bit but her blush remains.

"Right…well I better…gettomyshowernow." She responds while rushing to the bathroom and quickly closing the door. After a while she comes out ready for bed. She mimics my position of bed plus book, a heavy silence falling between us.

"Well…that was awkward," I begin slowly, looking over the top of my book in her direction.

"It was," she responds eyes locking with mine again, cheeks lightly tinged with pink again. "I really am sorry, I was lost in thought thinking about things…" she trails off a bit uncomfortably.

'I don't like the way she said that,' "are you alright Hermione?" I ask going over and sitting next to her.

"Y-yes." She mumbles looking away.

"Come on, if there's something bothering you, you can talk to me." I tell her draping my arm around her shoulders. "What are best friends for?" This causes her to pause and slowly turn to me wide eyed.

"You think of m-me as your be-st friend?" tears slowly falling from her eyes.

'I don't like where this is going,' I think wearily.

Wiping her tears I reply "Of course I do silly, since our first night here in fact." I tell her earnestly hugging her tightly. Any control she had collapses from my answer. She lets it all go and tells me everything that's been bothering her. How she's so nervous about failing classes, kinda silly since she's the only one in the castle who reads more than me; how she used to be bullied and ignored at her primary school because she was smart and liked to read so much so. They labeled her the 'Teachers Pet,' dumb little s***s. How she has been so worried that she wouldn't have any friends at Hogwarts because of her slightly annoying know-it-all personality. She's been afraid that there would be a lot of teasing because of her front teeth; this being another sore spot from her previous school days. But of all her fears, her biggest worry has been about me. She has been so worried that I didn't like her, and I was only nice to her out of necessity because we were roommates.

This went on for a roughly twenty minutes before she calmed down enough for me to get a word in.

"Hermione, sweetie, you are a bit insane you know that?" she just stares tears threating to fall again at my words. I 'Itachi' poke her before this happens. "Let me finish. You're insane for thinking I have only been nice and talked to you out of obligation. I truly think of you as my closest friend. There is no way in hell that you, of all people could fail a class. You are probably the smartest witch in this school aside from the Professors." I chuckle seeing her face burn red from my praise. "Now there is nothing I can do about any ignorant a** people who have to tear you down to make themselves feel better. Just know that everything they say is because they are sad little people who will probably never amount to anything. I won't stand for that when I'm around and I expect you to let me know if it happens. Talking about it will help you deal with it and not overstress yourself because of it." I say all this while hugging her tightly, doing my best show her the truth in my words.

'And I can find out who I need to "Talk" too,' adding the last part mentally.

Sniffling quietly she pulls back from my embrace and gives me the biggest smile I've seen from her to date. Seeing her smile gives me an Idea.

"Do me a favor and close your eyes for a minute but keep on smiling just like that."

"Why?" she asks me confused.

"It's a surprise." I tell her in a sing song voice. Looking a bit nervous she complies.

Pulling out my wand I aim it at her mouth specifically her teeth and mutter, "**Reducio.**"

"What did you do?" Hermione asks seeing my wand out. I simply smile, take her hand and lead her to the mirror in the bathroom. I tell her to open her and she complies.

"M-my teeth, there normal!" she squeaks barely able to contain her excitement I am soon ran over by a very excited brunette. "ThankyouThankyouThankyou!"

I just rub her back from my place beneath her on the floor. "No problem at all, could you let me up now?" I ask noticing her position straddling me, my checks brightening once again. She gives me a hand up, either not understanding or not caring about our previous positions.

"Just know that didn't do this because I think there was anything wrong with your teeth. I only did what I did because YOU were uncomfortable with them and I understood that." Smiling she simply nods her head.

"I know and thank you…for being my friend," she mumbles as she hugs me once more before suggesting that they get to bed.

"How forward of you Miss Granger, haven't even bought me dinner and trying to get me in bed."

"S-shut up," she yells and shoves me off her bed blushing furiously while I just laugh my a** off. Heading over to my bed I turn off the light and tuck myself into bed, Hermione doing the same. After a few minutes in the dark Hermione asks me a question I really didn't want her to remember.

"Hey Lina, what did you mean in Potions today when you said that Malfoy was getting extra credit by being under Professor Snape's desk? What kind of work could he get done under there?"

I mentally facepalm, 'I need to watch my mouth!'


	4. Its Time to Duel-Maybe

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**Spells**

-Break-

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Chapter 03: It's Time to Duel…Maybe

-Break-

It's been an alright couple of weeks since my first "eventful" Potions lesson. Snape and I have come to a ceasefire of sorts. He has cut back on being a dick, meaning his attitude now only gives me small tick marks as opposed to me wanting to conjure a metal spike through his eye. Not that I found a spell to do that…yet!

Other than that the rest of my classes are going well. Hermione and I fight for the top spot in all of our classes, each of us doing better depending on the class. Where Hermione bests me at Transfiguration, Potions, History of Magic and Herbology; I do better in Charms, Astronomy, and Defense. Though that last one is mostly from sneaking away for a bit every day to practice different jinxes, hexes, curses and their counters, in unused classrooms. Unfortunately last weekend I got a little…enthusiastic and landed myself in detention.

-Flashback-

"Let's see," I mumble to myself while pulling out a list of different spells I want to work on and master. "Got this one done, that one, that one too…I'm gonna need a new list soon." Mumbling I continue down my list. "Conjure water? Nope fine with that one, fire? No finished with that one too. Oh I know," I yell excitedly. "Accio!" I pull out my wand and point it to my bag on the other side of the room making it fly right to my hand.

'I love doing that makes me feel like a Jedi!' I giggle to myself while I pull out a more advanced spell book than I should have pausing as another thought crosses my mind. 'Note to self: figure out how to cast the summoning charm silently and wandless. Then I can really play Jedi.' The thought bringing a large grin as I turn to the page with the spell I want. I pull and aim my wand at one of the stone targets I talked the Twins into transfiguring for me.

"**Reducto!**" I call out and…nothing happens. "**Reducto**," I try again and nothing happens…again. After another 20 minutes of nothing happening I feel my temper snap. Growling I aim and cast the spell again, this time a small blue light glows at the end of my wand for a few seconds before shooting forward and impacting the target. After a double take of my wand and the target I walk up to examine the target. I can see a small dent about the size of a Sickle. 'Wasn't it was supposed to explode or shatter?"

"**Reducto!**"I cry out again and again, my dents and cracks getting bigger as the spell becomes easier; as well as the casting time reducing. Before I know it I'm shooting out basketball size blasts. It's not long before my target is blown to pieces. Laughing manically, think Joker level, I start blasting different things in the room, desks, chairs, an empty bookshelf, the wall. With all the debris flying around me and huge gouges torn out of the wall, I never noticed the door opening or the person coming in to check on all the noise I had no doubt that I was making.

"MISS THOMAS, WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!"

Freezing in place I turn slowly and look into the blazing eyes of Professor McGonagall. "Hi Professor, fancy meeting you here, eh hehe." I chuckle nervously while hiding my wand behind my back.

"Answer my question Miss Thomas!"

"Umm…homework," I reply as innocently as I could.

Yea, she didn't by it one bit if the slight twitch I saw is any indication. "While I applaud your initiative to further your studies. That will be 10 points from Gryffindor and detention with me this weekend." She tells me as she surveys the room. "Since you seem to be so eager to begin the more practical side of magic, you will be repairing everything that has been damaged in this classroom and clean and organize a few others."

"Yes Professor," I mumble while examining the fascinating floor beneath my feet.

-End Flashback-

Well it wasn't all bad, at least I cast **Reparo **enough times to be able to cast it silently. Today is looking to be a good day and one I've been looking forward too.

"We have flying lessons today!" I squealed while jumping up and down on my bed. Not long after I begin my celebrations a pillow comes flying and nails me square in the face. Sitting up in her bed with a rather impressive tic mark and her arm still outstretched is Hermione. Grabbing her wand she casts a charm that creates a glowing green clock face hovering over it.

"Lina, its 5:30 in the morning," she huffs angrily. "GO…TO…BED!" If looks could kill I would have a hole through my forehead, naturally I failed to notice her tone or the aura of death surrounding her.

"But Mione we get to fly today!" I cheered loudly doing a happy dance.

"LI…," Hermione takes a deep breath attempting to calm down. "…Lina, flying lessons are not until 3:30...in the afternoon. So PLEASE be quiet and let's get back to sleep."

"Bu…"

"No Buts!"

"How mean," I cry out indignantly while turning around and looking back at my rear. "I do so have a butt, and a cute one in my opinion!" I finish with a smirk while shaking said butt in Hermione's direction. The last thing I remember seeing before being woken up for breakfast a few hours later is a red light flying from her wand.

-Break Hermione's POV-

"**Stupefy**!" I cry out in frustration from my best friend's antics, the red colored spell flying from my wand and knocking her out. She falls face first back onto her pillow read end in the air. Sighing I rise and move her into a more comfortable position. My eyes moving to her rear as I remember what caused me to cast my first successful stunning spell. 'I guess it is kind of cute,' I think as I rearrange her body and tuck her in.

Returning to my own bed and covering back up I can feel a blush slowly spreading as I remember my previous thoughts. 'I think I'm being corrupted.' Rolling over I slowly return to the blissful dreams of libraries and a hyperactive red head…with duct tape stuck over her mouth.

-Break Normal POV-

The spirits around the Gryffindor table were running rather high. The excitement from me and my fellow first years seemed to be rather infectious. Everyone was smiling and joking around. Even Percy, to my surprise, was caught fighting back laughter from something one of the twins said. Though when asked about it later he denied it with all of his being. Not everyone was excited by the prospect of flying however; mainly Neville and Hermione, and to a lesser extent Harry.

Neville has told us that he has never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. I could understand her reasoning since Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even just walking around on the ground. Too my left Hermione was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. My theory for this is because you can't really learn something like this from a book. It's something that you have to feel and test in real life. This makes it impossible or next to impossible, to prepare one hundred percent from a book.

Though she is trying her best with a copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_ that she checked out from the library the other day. She is currently speed reading to find tips for flying and reading any she finds out loud. Neville was hanging on to her every word, bacon left unguarded and disappearing mysteriously, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later. So focused was she that she didn't notice the bacon that mysteriously disappeared from her plate like Neville's had. Cue my OH so innocent face.

Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Harry not receiving any letters or packages since his note from Hagrid was easily noticed by Malfoy. Swear to god the kid is stalking Harry. I remember calling him on it the other day. There was a rather large audience to one of the random pissing matches between Malfoy and our group when I brought it up.

-Flashback-

"Durka durka Pureblood. Durka durka Weasley poor. Durka durka durka no one writes you." Yep I zoned out completely as Malfoy droned on and on trying to get a rise out of us.

Suddenly a thought crossed my mind. "Hey Malfoy!"

"What peasant?"

"Why have you been paying such close attention to Harry? Why do you care if he gets mail or not?"

"It is not your place to question me you common trash." He haughtily replied to me eliciting several growls and frowns from my fellow Gryffindors.

"It just dawned on me that you might be sporting a bit of a crush for our beloved Boy-Who-Lived." Grinning a bit sadistically I add one more nail in the coffin… "So I have to ask what, are your intentions with my dear friend here?" Everyone around me looks a tad confused before what I implied sinks in. I can tell when it happens from the blushes rising on the cheeks of the girls and chuckles/uncontrollable laughter coming from the guys. Not to mention the pale shade of green that Harry seems to be turning.

Malfoy's eyes just widen as he turns pink, either from rage or embarrassment, I don't care which since both are just as amusing to me. He abruptly about faces and storms off rapidly to the laughing of my housemates.

Ron pats Harry on the shoulder smirking. "Tough luck mate, don't know what I would do if Malfoy fancied me." This causes me and Hermione to break out into an almost uncontrollable fit of giggles.

Harry robotically turns to include me in his line of sight. "Ron, Lina…" He addresses us stoically. "…Never…EVER… say anything like THAT again. It may be weeks until I can eat or sleep again." Ron just guffaws louder while I salute him and continue to giggle.

-Flashback End-

Chuckling from the memory I grab some more food as I see a barn owl dropping off a small package for Neville. He excitedly opens it and shows off a glass ball about the size of a plum filled with swirling white smoke. It would be a great thing to stare at if one were to…partake of certain herbs from a pipe of some kind.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explains to the table. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight, like this, and if it turns red — oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall turned bright red, "…you've forgotten something…."

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Malfoy's ferret looking self, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand. Harry and Ron jumped to their feet, and they became my next victims as their bacon also mysteriously disappeared. Unfortunately before things could escalate to a fun game of Whack-A-Ferret Professor McGonagall appeared in a flash brow raised.

"What's going on here?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table. "Just looking," he said, and he slunk away with Crabbe and Goyle following close behind him.

'Bull****!' myself and, going by the look on the Professor's face, thought so too.

-Break-

As 3:30 came around me and the rest of the Gryffindor first years made our way out to the grounds for our first flying lesson. Me bouncing around like some kind of hyper active squirrel on Red Bull, Hermione doing her best to keep me under control with an exasperated yet amused smile. It was a clear, breezy day with the grass rippling under our feet as we march down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat area on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest.

The a**h…I mean Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty or so broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Our teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." Looking down I see a nasty looking broom that looks more like the legendary ugly stick that was obviously used on Malfoy.

"Hold out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP" everyone shouts at the same time. Harry and Malfoy's broom jumped into their hands right away. Others, like me, took a second or third time before the broom would come to our hands. Hermione's just rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Madam Hooch then showed us how to mount the brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting the grips as she saw fit. Many of us snickered when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years

All of this was causing me another serious case of déjà vu. 'I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about this.'

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —"

Unfortunately Neville was just too nervous and jumpy so he ended up pushing off to hard. Before I knew it he was at least 20 feet up and still gaining altitude. I pull out my wand and aim it at the ground under Neville and cast a softening charm when I see him start to slip sideways and fall off the broom. Neville's body makes a rather loud thudding sound as he lands face down on the grass. Madam Hooch rushes over to check on his condition inspecting the wrist he is cradling.

"Only a sprain," she sighs thankfully. "Who has the fast wand?" she asks as she noticed the condition of the ground. I raise my hand shyly.

"10 points to Gryffindor, this could have been a whole lot worse without your quick thinking. Come on boy let's get your wrist looked at." She says to Neville as she helps him up.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing!" she addresses the group sternly, "You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil, a pretty little Indian girl from my house.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a fugly looking Slytherin girl.

'She really does look like a pug,' I muse as she continues her kindergarten level insults.

"Never thought _you'd _like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"You're just upset that Malfoy has a thing for Harry and not you Parkinson." Parvati fires back causing two things to happen simultaneously; Harry facepalming, like a boss, and the rest of us Gryffindors falling down laughing.

Harry just looks at me dejectedly, with huge crocodile tears, "Why Lina…why?" All this does is make me crack up harder.

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass, don't know how he missed Parvarti's masterful burn or the laughter it caused but he did. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly, yet obviously irritated. All the laughter died down as things started getting real.

'Wait, Real World Hogwarts Edition, I would make a killing!' I giggle greedily for a moment before mentally smacking myself. 'No! Bad Lina no exposing the Wizarding world for monetary gain.' Internal struggle finished I tuned back into the world around me, it appears I missed a bit.

"Give it _here_!" Harry yelled, as Malfoy leapt onto his broomstick and took off.

'I guess he can fly alright' I acknowledged silently.

Hovering level with the topmost branches of a tree he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"

"_No!" _shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move — you'll get us all into trouble."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that only those two would get in trouble." I say to Hermione, this causes a small debate between us. Harry, ignoring us completely, hopped on his broom and flew straight up, looking more at ease in the air than with us down on the ground.

"What an _idiot._" Hermione comments as we watch the mini aerial battle taking place.

"Yea but he's _our_ idiot." I tell her chuckling a bit as I drape an arm over her shoulders. "Kick his a** Harry!" I yell up to him causing other shouts of encouragement and Hermione to roll her eyes while smiling slightly. Next thing any of us know Malfoy winds up and tosses the Remembrall hard toward the castle. Harry takes off like a bat out of hell catching it just before it crashes through a window and pulling up in time to not go through it himself.

"HARRY POTTER!"

. "Oh that's not good at all." I mumble and Hermione and others who heard me nod their heads in agreement as we see Professor McGonagall walking, surprisingly fast for someone so wrinkly, up to a quickly paling Boy-Who's-About-To-Die. "_Never_… in all my time at Hogwarts …" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed dangerously, "…how _dare _you… might have broken your neck…"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor …"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil …"

"But Malfoy …" Ron tried but was cut off as well.

"That's _enough_, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now." Harry followed the irate Professor mechanically while Malfoy and his crew looked on with faces of triumph. Either that or the three of them are just really stressed and have necks full of knots. Being the non-vindictive person I am, naturally I had to help them. So while no one was watching, as we all made our way back into the castle, I cast a muscle relaxing charm I learned from _A Beginners Guide to Healing_. Unfortunately I "forgot" to cast the accompanying spell that makes sure they wouldn't have an accident, since the M.R.C. I cast relaxes "every" muscle in the body.

Suffice it to say, Malfoy and his crew made a mad dash to the castle to find a bathroom, leaving a brownish trail of something or other in their wake.

"I don't know what he was thinking. He's going to be expelled!" Hermione mumbles next to me as we watch them run to the castle.

"I don't know Mione, something tells me everything will be ok."

"How do you know?" She asks me curiously.

"Don't know," I shrug my shoulders. "Just a feeling." I tell her as I link arms with her. "Come on, that was our last class. Let's head to the library and get started on our Transfiguration essay." Smiling Hermione nods her head as we make our way to the library discussing various things from class and back home.

_-_Break-

Come dinner time Harry has just finished telling Ron and me about McGonagall making him Gryffindor's Seeker.

" _Seeker_?" he said. "But first years _never _— you must be the youngest house player in about —"

" — a century," said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. "Wood told me."

"I want to call you on this, but I really don't think your lying," I tell him.

"I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."

"Well done," said George in a low voice.

"Well that secret lasted all of ten seconds." I grumbled into my food.

"Wood told us. We're on the team too — Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left…"

And that's where I removed myself from the conversation. Just not _that _interested in Quidditch. Pulling out my charms book I start looking for anything that looks interesting while I continued eating with my free hand. It's not long before I notice the mood shift. Looking up I start paying attention to the conversation besides me, looks like ferret boy walked up for another round of trash talking.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only…no contact."

"Wuss." I mutter but no one pays attention to me.

"What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," Ron butted in. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked." As they turn to leave no one sees my wand out under the table or herd me mutter the incantation for the tripping jinx that hit the three of them. Naturally they fell flat on their faces and the entire Great Hall cracks up. Even a few of the teachers have to fight back smiles. Cue the pink faced ferret storming off followed by dumb and dumber.

"What is a wizard's duel?" Harry asks sobering up as he asks the question he really should of asked before letting Ron accept the duel for him. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"

"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the nervous look on Harry's face, and my deadpan stare he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."

"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested while I facepalm.

"Excuse me." Hermione asked as she joins us, much to Ron's displeasure.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.

Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry while I glared at Ron. This had no effect however as he dove into his meal. 'And people say _I'm_ bad with food.' I think while listening to Hermione and Harry's conversation.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying —"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered and I slap him over the head. "Oi!"

"— and you _mustn't _go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Good-bye," said Ron. Hermione huffs and storms off, head held high.

"You know…" I began as I get up to follow her. "…she has a point."

Harry and Ron just groaned, looking at me annoyed, "Not you too? I thought that you would understand, what with everything you've said and done to Malfoy so far." Harry asks me sarcastically.

"If I thought the little coward would _actually _show up I would take your place and knock the little wanker around myself. I call dibs on being the first to say "I told you so" when you get caught by Filch because Malfoy doesn't show up." I tell him seriously as I leave to catch up with Hermione.

-Break-

As the clock got closer to midnight Hermione decided to head down to the common room, hoping to talk Harry and Ron out of going out so far past curfew, me tagging along to keep her company. We talked for a bit here and there but mostly just relaxed in the chairs near the smoldering embers of the fireplace, enjoying the silence that is uncommon in the Common Room. With about half an hour to go we hear some quiet shuffling and muted conversation coming from the boy's staircase.

Unsurprisingly it was Harry and Ron, doing their best to keep quiet while they sneak out, and not doing as good a job as they thought. As they approached the portrait hole Hermione reached over and flipped on the lamp by us and addressed them.

"I can't believe you two are doing this."

"It does seem rather stupid," I agreed with her crossing my arms as I walked up next to her.

" _You!_" said Ron furiously looking back and forth between us. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy — he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

Harry just glared at the two of us and ignored Hermione's words. "Come on," he said to Ron as he pushed open the Fat Lady's Portrait and left the common room.. Hermione's face darkened as we followed them out trying to talk some sense into them. My own irritation rising as I fought the urge to knock them both over their heads and tie them up.

"Don't you _care _about Gryffindor, do you _only _care about yourselves, _I _don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Don't forget the points I got from Flitwick for knowing all of the first year charms and mastering some of them." I added as an afterthought.

"Go away."

"FINE, but we warned you. You just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so —"

"S***!" I cursed loudly cutting her off. The three of them turned around to see that the Fat Lady had left her portrait, which meant that Hermione and I were locked out of the common room.

"Now what are we going to do?" she asked shrilly turning to me.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go; we're going to be late." Both of them turned to head for the trophy room.

"Ugh why do we even attempt to associate with them?" Hermione asks me, tick mark in full force.

"Because were good people who believe in helping the mentally handicapped?" I answered her earning me a small laugh before her frown returns as we follow them.

"Were coming with you," she told them as we caught up.

"You are _not_."

"Do you _really_ think you two could stop us?" I asked them brow raised as my wand's tip glowed an ominous red.

Harry paled a bit as he remembered how large my spell repertoire was. Ron, being as thick as he was, completely ignored my not so subtle threat.

"You've got some nerve —" said Ron loudly.

"Shut up, all of you!" said Harry sharply earning a small growl from me and a huff of annoyance from Hermione. "I think heard something."

Perking my head up I gaze intently down the empty hallway listening carefully. "I think I hear it too. A sort of snuffling sound?"

"Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark. But it wasn't Mrs. Norris it was Neville. He was curled up on the floor near the portrait hole, fast asleep.

'How did we not see him there?' I wondered as he jerked suddenly awake as we crept closer to him.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours; I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

'Poor Neville.'

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now; the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere." Harry tells him. "How's your arm?"

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good — well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later —"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

"Fine but if any of you get us caught; I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned us all to leave.

"Don't worry Ron; I'll be sure to give you a demonstration of that curse later." I told him quietly, grinning evilly. This causes him to pale, as he remembered just who he was talking too, and a smirk of amusement to cross Hermione's face.

We made our way through the darkened halls, moving as quickly and quietly as we could. Hermione and I wishing we could use **Lumos** but knowing it would give us away. Twice I had to stop Neville from walking into a suit of armor. As we neared the staircase that would bring us to the third floor, we increased our speed and made it to the trophy room.

Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. My sense of déjà vu kicking in again, giving me an eerie sense of foreboding as the minutes ticked off one by one. I passed the time staring at the various awards around the room. There were many different kinds; cups, shields, plates, statues, you name it, it was there. One of them with the name Tom Riddle caught my eye. Not sure why but as I read the name a chill slowly made its way up my spine. Similar to the one I receive sometimes as I enter the DADA classroom.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

"Or the little coward was never coming like I said earlier." I whispered back in a haughty tone. Then we heard a noise and someone started speaking and it wasn't the ferret. It was Filch, talking to Mrs. Norris, egging her on in their hunt for students.

"Let's get out of here!" Harry whispered franticly. He didn't need to tell us twice as we all took off out of the second door, just missing Filch as he came in the room. We started to sneak away down the hall when Neville and Ron walked right into a suit of armor. A look of horror appeared on everyone's faces as I facepalmed.

"RUN!" Harry yelled, as we helped Neville up and took off full speed down the hall, not bothering to look back to see if Filch or his cat was following or not. After a about ten minutes of full on sprinting and finding a random secret passage we found ourselves near the Charms classroom, where we all stopped to catch our breath.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I told you we could get into trouble!" Hermione gasped out clutching at a stitch in her chest

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Lina was right, Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you. Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

"Hey Harry," I called to him, in a sing song voice, getting his attention. With a grimace he looks at me seeing my cocky yet irritated expression. "Pick up a phone…" this causes everyone to look at me confused. "…cause I f***ing called it!" I finish triumphantly, earning two, even more, confused stares and two anime drops.

"Let's get going." Harry tells us as he gets back up. But of course it couldn't be that easy as we see a doorknob slowly start turning before something shoots out the door and into the air above us.

"Wandering around after curfew Ickle Firsties? Shame on you!" Peeves cackled loudly.

"Just get out of here Peeves before I try my hand at Exorcism." I yell to him with a glare.

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, ignoring my threat completely. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Ah hell!" I muttered when I saw the glint that appeared in his eyes.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

"Let's get out of here!" Harry yelled to us and we took off running until we came up on a door that was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as we all pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"

We could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts. "Oh, move over," Hermione snarled pulling Ron out of the way. "Lina get the door."

Nodding and quickly pulling out my wand again I tap it to the lock. "**Alohamora**!" The lock clicked and the door swung open letting us all pile through it and slam it behind us. Staying absolutely quiet we listened with our ears to the door. We heard Peeves antagonizing Filch enough for him to chase after the poltergeist.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay — get _off_, Neville!" Neville was tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute or so. "_What_?"

"Harry," I whispered franticly. "Shut up!" Harry turned around to respond and saw what the rest of us were looking at, paling as he did. Apparently we managed to find our way to the forbidden corridor and found out why exactly it was forbidden. Staring into the eyes of a giant Cerberus will shut anyone up. As it growled at us I pulled out my wand.

"**Lumos Maxima**" I yelled as a huge beam of light exploded out of my wand blinding the dog momentarily and stopping it from advancing on us. Harry grabbed the door handle and pulled Neville and Ron out with him while I covered Hermione's and my own escape." Slamming the door behind us we took off, hearing muted barks and something banging against the door. Not stopping in our retreat until we came back to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Where have you all been?" The Fat Lady asks us. Harry ignores the question and says the password. The Fat Lady harrumphed but opened to let us in. It takes a few minutes before anyone can say anything.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron still out of breath.

"If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

"That's not even a good joke Harry." I groaned at him.

Hermione had caught her breath and addresses us, still mad. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor," Harry answered a bit sarcastically. "I wasn't looking at its feet; I was too busy with its _three_ heads."

"No, _not _the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

"Now that you mention it…" I pause thinking back. "…Your right it was."

Hermione stood up and grabbed my hand leading me to the staircase for our dorms. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, were going to bed."

"Why Miss Granger, trying to get me into your bed again?" I asked her, waggling my eyebrows, once we were out of earshot of the boys. She flushes a bit as she closes the door behind us.

"Just go to bed." She tells me tiredly, shaking her head.

"Goodnight." I tell her yawning a bit.

"Night"

-Break 3rd person POV-

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged them along, wouldn't you." But Hermione and Lina had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed. The dog was guarding something…What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide — except perhaps Hogwarts. Looks like he finally found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.

"Hey Harry?" Ron asks Harry after getting situated in his own bed.

"What is it Ron?"

"What's a phone?" Ron asked Harry causing him to facepalm quietly.

"I'll explain it in the morning."

-Break-

A/N: Just a side note and some advertising for another very good fic. The idea for the Muscle Relaxation Charm came from fantasy1290's story DUEL. Where a non-bitch/non-fugly version of Pansy Parkison uses it in a duel to beat a classic asshole Ron.


	5. Trolls Make Me See Red

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**Spells**

-Break-

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Chapter 04: Trolls Make Me See Red

-Break-

Getting up the day after our little night time romp was a hassle. I was so tired I never noticed myself actually going through my morning routine. After one long blink I was suddenly at the breakfast table, the heavenly scent of bacon fully pulling me from Morpheus' grasp. Not that I complained, I just dove in, stocking up on food, everything else tuned out as I focused on my plate. Although aware of my surroundings, none of the events around me warranted my attention. Neither Neville's jumpiness; probably a product of last night, nor Hermione glaring at Ron and Harry from her place next to me was worth my time.

No, the only thing that deserved my attention on this fine morning was my dear breakfast. That was the case until three owls carrying a rather large package decided it needed to meet the back of my head on their way to delivering it to Harry. Of course this caused a round of laughter from the rest of the table.

"Oww! Dammit Harry!" I glared at the boy as he gives me an apologetic look while he opened the letter that came with the package.

"Are you alright Lina?" Hermione asked me after I grumbled and return to my breakfast.

"Yea I'm alright," I answer her with a small smile. "I have a rather hard head so I'll be fine. Hopefully whatever that is, is damaged beyond repair"

She snorts in amusement and grins at me. "Oh you don't have to tell me I know just how hard that head of yours is." The glare I send at her only increases the mirth dancing in her eyes. It's not long after that that Harry and Ron get up to leave with the back of my heads new friend.

'Oh I wonder what ever could be in the long broomstick shaped package,' I pause and blink owlishly. 'Wow even my internal monologue voice is a sarcastic b****.'

"Oh no I forgot my charms book!" Hermione interrupts my soul searching self-evaluation in a panic.

"Well let's go grab it; we still have time before classes start. Best to get it now while your thinking about it." I tell her, calming her down slightly. As we leave the Great Hall we pass Malfoy and his goons, all with irritated looks on their faces.

"I wonder what's up their butts; I haven't verbally beaten them into submission today?"

"Well judging by the smirks THOSE two have it has to do with the broomstick their holding." Hermione growls out from beside me as we come up behind them.

"If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team.…" Harry says to Ron before Hermione cuts them off.

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking the rules?" Hermione's growled at them, her temper spiking as she glares back and forth between the boys and the broom.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" Harry responds with a small glare.

"Yes, don't stop now," Ron adds, "it's doing us so much good."

Their words causing Hermione to almost snarl as she stomps off toward Gryffindor Tower.

"I don't even think you're aware of just how lucky you are Harry. Coming out of the whole broomstick flying incident the way you did." I say to Harry before I follow the grumbling form of Hermione, not even bothering to stay for any retort he may of had.

-Break-

"Lina," Hermione puts a hand on my shoulder turning me to face her, concern in her eyes. "Are you alright? You've been looking a little pale since breakfast?"

"I'm alright Mione," I tell her. "Just had some trouble sleeping last night…Nightmares nothing to worry about," It's been a few days since the whole broomstick debate type…thing? Not sure how to classify that conversation, anyway Harry, Ron, and Hermione haven't spoken a word to each other since then. I've been getting the cold shoulder from them as well. Probably don't like me actually using my brain and agreeing with Hermione when she's right…idiots.

"Okay, if you're sure." She may have accepted my answer but her worry didn't totally vanish.

"I am, I just need a bit more time to finish waking up is all." I give her a small smile as I pull out another piece of bacon I had hidden on me…somewhere. My actions earning a sweat drop from my brunette friend as we make our way to Charms. "We get to make things fly around today so that should be fun." I tell her excitedly after devouring my precious, attempting to change the subject from my nightmares and/or any bacon I may or my not have stashed on my person.

Smiling she agrees with me. "Yes, pity you and I won't be learning anything new. Since the both of us can already use the Levitation Charm, thanks to you already knowing it at helping me learn it."

"Y-yes, well, you help me with Potions all the time so it's only fair right?" I reply blushing at the bit of praise that was sent my way. "I won't be able to get any points for it since Flitwick knows I can already do it. But he doesn't know you can do it too," I smile at her mischief clear in my tone. "So you have some easy points to earn today." I tell her earning a smirk from the other girl as we enter the classroom.

Professor Flitwick split the class into pairs to practice the spell. Harry's partner was Seamus. Ron and Hermione were working together, much to their mutual ire. The small Professor had me floating around the class with him acting as a teacher's aide assisting the rest of the class. I have a feeling I'm going to be abused like this often in this class.

'Sometimes being gifted in something is a curse.' I mentally cry as I hurry to Harry and Seamus to douse Harry's hat with water from my wand. Harry tried using his hat to smother their feather after Seamus caused it to burst into flames instead of float thus burning the hat.

"**Wingardium Leviosa**!" Ron shouted from the next table over, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped at him, though still trying to be helpful. "It's Wing- _gar_-dium Levi- _o_-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled at her.

I locked eyes with Hermione for a moment, smirked and winked at her. Hermione, twin smirk in place, rolled up her sleeves, dramatically flicked her wand, and said, "**Wingardium Leviosa**!" And what do you know; their feather rose off the desk and hovered near the ceiling. Not being able to resist I aim wand at Neville's feather; he wasn't making much use of it anyway, and sent it off to join Hermione's feather in an intricate aerial ballet.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Needless to say Ron was a jealous little s*** after that. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," Me and Hermione hear him telling Harry loudly. "She's a nightmare, honestly."

I look at Hermione worriedly, and I can see the tears in her eyes slowly beginning to fall. She rushes past them, bumping Ron hard as she hurried out of the classroom and down the hall.

"I think she heard you."

"So?" Ron said looking a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"Really and what am I then Weasley?" I asked him coldly from behind.

"No one was talking to…" He stops and pales a bit as he and Harry turn to see me and the hard look upon my face, wand sparking dangerously, my magic responding to my anger.

"W-we-ll I-I," he stutters out."

"I'm going to let this slide for now," I tell him putting my wand away. "But if something like this happens again…" my voice taking on a too sweet to be real tone while I smile a little to innocently. The combination of my voice and smile making both Harry and Ron sweat a bit. "…well let's just say that I'll be teaching you how to play one of my favorite games…football." After finishing my threat with a smack upside his head I hurried after Hermione.

-Break 3rd Person POV-

As Harry and Ron stare at Lina's retreating form Ron, rubbing his head, turned to Harry with a look of confusion.

"Harry, what did she mean when she said she'll teach me football?"

"Umm…" Harry starts nervously. "…remember on the train and what she did to Malfoy?"

"Yea that was brilliant!" Ron exclaimed excitedly.

"Remember what she called it?"

"Yeah she called it handbal…" Ron's words die out before he can finish the thought. Paling again he looks at Harry who nods his head, confirming Ron's fears.

Clapping him on the shoulder in support Harry offers him some advice. "I think you should be very careful about what you say around Lina for the foreseeable future."

Ron nods his head vigorously in agreement at the suggestion.

-Break Normal POV-

With Charms being the last class of the day, Hermione and I ended up spending the rest of the day locked in a stall of one of the many girls' bathrooms. Hermione spent much of this time in tears while I spent my time hugging her and doing my best to both support and cheer her up. Ron's foot's latest trip into his mouth hit a rather sore spot for the bushy haired girl. As I held her crying form I remembered our many late night talks where I learned much of what made Hermione Granger tick, including her fears and insecurities.

When dinner time came around I made my way to the kitchens, having threaten…I mean persuaded the Weasley twins, 100 percent of their own free will I can assure you, to show me how to find and access the kitchens. The house elves were very helpful and had no problems loading me up with a basket with enough food for two people and a jug of juice and silverware.

After about twenty minutes, with only a minimal amount of begging, whining, and threatening I was able to coax Hermione into eatting some dinner with me.

"It's alright Mione," trying again to reassure the girl. "Ron is an idiot, he never has any idea what he's talking about. He's just jealous that you beat him at everything in class."

"I know…" Hermione says quietly picking at the remains of her dinner. "It's just what he said has been said to me so many times at my old school. I guess his words just brought back all the wrong memories at the wrong time." She finished with a melancholy sigh.

I reached over and pulled her into another embrace, placing a gentle kiss to her brow as a few more tears fall from her eyes.

"Just try and forget about it. You don't ever have to worry about not having friends. You've got me and I'm worth like ten friends," my declaration earning a small smile and laugh. "I'm not going anywhere." I tell her earnestly, earning another smile from the brunette.

"Thank yo…" Her words are cut off as we hear the bathroom door open and a disgusting smell begins to wash over us.

Suddenly a sharp pain shoots through my head, like someone jammed an electrified ice pick into it. Visibly cringing as the memories of what is about to happen and what exactly is out there appear in my mind. 'Oh F*** the troll!' Shushing Hermione's questions quickly after the pain fades away, I peer through the cracks of the stall. The sight of the troll confirms my fears. I turn to Hermione, doing my best to hide my own rising fear.

"Be very quiet," I whispered to her quickly. "I don't know how it got in here but there's a troll out there." Hermione's eyes widen in fear and she quickly backs away from the stall door. Unfortunately her sudden movement caused her to kick over one of the plates from dinner, loudly giving away our location.

"S***!" I cursed loudly as I pushed Hermione out of the stall just as the troll's club smashes through it, throwing debris all around the unusually large bathroom. Pushing Hermione behind me to shield her I get my first real look at the troll. The thing must stand about 12' tall, with ashy grey skin and built like a boulder and wearing a pair of ratty torn pants and vest. The club it's carrying looking to be a freshly pulled tree of some kind.

The troll catches sight of us and begins advancing slowly on us. I can feel Hermione trembling and griping my robes tightly in fear. I very slowly turn my head to lock eyes with her.

"Hermione I have a plan." I tell her bringing her out of her catatonic state momentarily. "Remember the spell I used to get us away from the giant dog." She nods her head nervously. "When I give you the signal put as much magic as you can into that spell then we'll make a run for the door."

"I-I'll t-t-try," she stutters out pulling out her wand as I draw mine.

The troll raises its club as it enters striking distance.

"NOW!"

"**Lumos Maxima**!" Hermione and I cry as an intense light explodes from the end of our wands blinding the troll temporarily.

'I think I should begin shouting **Solar Flare** when I cast that spell,' the random thought popping up as I fight off my own fear. With the troll distracted we take off at full speed toward the door. Unfortunately as we make it half way to the door the troll recovers enough to swing wildly in our direction, with the club heading straight for Hermione who froze at the sight of the club coming at here. My heart beating violently in my chest I run as fast as I can back to Hermione.

Trying desperately to reach her in time, the world seems to slow down. Everything I can see taking on a slight reddish hue. Looking at Hermione I can see a ball of blue light around her navel and a more brownish color around that of the troll's. If I focused on the walls, floor, or ceiling I would be able to see an almost solid chunk of blue encompassing the whole room.

During the slow motion state I am currently in; it's almost like I can see everything the troll is about to do before it does it. I know I can make it in time to get Hermione out of the way, but I wouldn't be so lucky. Me or her, an easy choice. As I reach my friend the redness recedes and time seems to return to normal. I shove Hermione away toward the door and throw up a quick flimsy shield charm. The troll's club is able to crash right through it. Only being slowed down enough for a less than fatal strike to my shoulder and side that sent me flying away from the door and into the opposite wall.

"LINA!" Hermione screamed my name in panic getting the trolls attention again.

As I slowly rise to my feet my left arm hanging limply at my side, blood flowing down my arm and from a nasty gash across the side of my face. Miraculously I was able to keep a hold of my wand. I flick it at one of the destroyed sinks and send it flying into the trolls back.

"Oi, Ugly!" My sink and my voice bringing the trolls angry expression back to me. "Where are you going, round two starts right now!" With my challenge I unleash a volley of Reductor and Cutting curses at the troll causing, superficial at best, wounds. Although they did their job of keeping the trolls attention off of the trembling brunette. "Hermione get out of here! Get help!" I cried out desperately as I am forced to roll on my bad shoulder to dodge another swing of the club that gouges out a new hole in the wall behind me.

"No Lina I can't leave you by yourself!"

"Go Dammit!" I scream at her as I fire a Knockback Jinx that sends her flying out the door. "Let's see how you like some fire Mother F***er, **Incendio**!" I screamed loudly sending a medium sized fireball at the troll burning away its ugly vest but causing very little damage to the beast's hide. As the club comes at me again, the red in my vision returns and things begin to slow once again.

Thanks to the red I am better able to dodge the trolls wild swings and retaliate with whatever spells I can think of. I think at one point a chicken was conjured and sent flying at the troll's face…Yeah I sweat dropped too. The troll didn't mind the chicken as much since it just opened its mouth caught the chicken in it swallowing it whole. It gave me a goofy grin after that, right before the rage returned to its eyes and it began attacking me again.

As the onslaught from the troll continued I was beginning to tire quickly from all of the dodging, blood loss, and spells I've been firing off. If it wasn't for the red I would have died at least ten times over. It's not much longer before I lost my footing and tripped over a broken pipe falling to my knees before the troll.

"S***!" I screamed in pain as I hit ground hard. The troll raised its club to finish me off when the door burst open and three voices I knew called my name simultaneously.

"LINA!"

-Break 3rd person POV 5 Minutes Earlier-

"NoNoNoNoNo!" Hermione cried out fearfully as she ran in search of help.

"Hermione!"

Hearing her name she turns back and finds Ron and Harry rushing up to her.

"Hermione where's Lina there's a troll in the castle. We need to get to the Common Room!" Harry told her hurriedly.

"I know," she replied to him frantically. "It came into the bathroom that me and Lina were in. Lina threw me out the door but wasn't able to get away, she's still trapped back there with it!" Both Harry and Ron paled at the witch's words, eyes widening in fear.

"We have to help her come on!" Harry yelled as he took off toward the bathroom, Ron and Hermione following close behind. They burst through the door only to see a frightening sight. The bathroom was utterly destroyed; there are holes, dents, cracks, small fires, and debris everywhere. But the worst sight of all was the form of the tiny redhead on her knees at the feet of the troll. Multiple cuts lined the young girl's robes and her arm hung limply at her side. Her fiery red hair, dulled and stuck to her scalp from the blood flowing from the cut across her face.

"LINA!" The trio cried and startled as both the troll and girls attention shifted to them. The three stared frozen, transfixed by both the size of the troll that was approaching them and the eerie way the girl's eyes seemed to be glowing red.

"No! **Bombardia**!" the injured girl screamed after stumbling back to her feet, jabbing her wand at the troll's back. An explosive force erupted from the girl's wand, empowered by the fear she felt her friends' safety, an explosion detonated on the back of the trolls head, stunning it momentarily.

-Break Normal POV Present-

"No! **Bombardia**!" I screamed an impressive fireball erupting from the back of the trolls head as the spell connected. This also had the added benefit of bringing its focus back to me, looking even more pissed off if it's possible.

"Guys I don't think I can last much longer, do something" I yell to them, vision still red although blurring a little from my exhaustion. I hear Hermione giving instructions to both Harry and Ron as I dodge the club, once again having to roll on my bad shoulder, crying out in pain as I end up down on my hands and knees again. The troll raises the club ready for the kill. Knowing I won't be able to move again out of it's way again.

I hear three simultaneous cries of "**Wingardium Leviosa**!" and see the club fly out of the troll's hand, before it can finish it's swing, and float above its head. It looks up, confused to see its club floating in the air. Looking over I can see all three of my friends with their wands aimed at the floating club.

"All of you slash your wands down now!" I order them hoping they don't hesitate and lucky for all of us, they don't. The three of them slash their wands down in unison causing the club to hurtle straight down at an impressive speed and collide with the troll's head. It's eyes cross as it begins stumbling around. I aim my wand one more time and send a Tripping Jinx at the troll's legs causing it to fall head first into the wall finally rendering it unconscious.

Slowly I make my way to my friends, holding my limp arm but with a tired smile upon my lips. "Took you guys long enough." My words seem to snap them out of their stupor as they shift their focus from the troll to me.

"Oh Lina I was so worried about you." Hermione rushes to me and embraces me in a bone crushing hug, my good arm waving frantically as her hug brings me closer to death than the troll ever did.

"Uh Hermione," Ron starts tentatively and Hermione turned to him, head tilted in question. "She's turning blue." He deadpans. Hermione looks at my face, squeals and lets me go.

"Sorrysorrysorry!" She says over and over again while I take several deep breaths.

"It's alright."

"Umm Lina," Harry addresses me. "Why are your eyes a different color…and glowing?"

"Huh…what are you talking about?" Hermione helps me over to the one mirror that survived the epic battle of awesomeness…I mean the dangerous life threatening battle. 'Remember kids; don't try anything the reincarnated soul does at home.' I chuckled a bit at my delirious internal monologue, before looking into the mirror so I can see what Harry was talking about. Staring into my own eyes, they widened as I learned just how I was able to survive the battle with the troll as long as I did.

My eyes have changed drastically from their normal blue. The irises are now red with a soft glow and there is a black ring circling the pupil. The most distinguishing new feature is the single black tomoe located on the ring in each eye.

"Sharingan." I whispered in both awe and disbelief at what I saw in the mirror, the others looking on in curiosity. As I focus on my eyes I can feel a slight, almost unnoticeable pull coming from behind my navel and traveling to each eye.

'Right everyone's magical cores are located behind their navels. I must have unconsciously focused magic to my eyes while I was in battle and unlocked the Sharingan…' I rationally conclude from what I know about the Sharingan. 'Now how the hell do I even have these eyes, I'm pretty sure the Uchiha Clan doesn't really exist and I'm not freaking Japanese. Although I AM at Hogwarts so I don't even know what's what anymore.' Hermione's hand on my shoulder brings me out of my internal musing.

"Lina are you ok, what's wrong with your eyes?" She asked me staring into my eyes, I can see a look of concern and curiosity on both hers and the boys faces.

"I'm pretty banged up but I should be alright in a bit." Lying through my teeth so as not to worry her. But judging from her narrowing eyes she doesn't buy it and is about to call BS. "As for my eyes," I say quickly cutting her lecture off. "I think I know what's going on but it's kind of hard to explain now." I tell them all honestly. I face the mirror again and close my eyes, trying to get my breathing under control and focus in an attempt to cut the flow of magic to my eyes. It wasn't has hard as I thought it would be since I was beginning to really feel the strain from all of the spells I fired off in such a small amount of time. And lets not forget the magic that I was unconsciously feeding the Sharingan to keep it active.

Opening my eyes slowly I am relieved to see that they have returned to their normal blue color. I also notice my vision blurring a bit as I need to catch myself on the wall hold myself up.

"Guys promise you won't tell anyone about my eyes, I will explain them soon but until then keep it a secret." I look at each of them begging, crocodile tears appearing at the corners of my eyes. "Please?" Falling prey to the dreaded puppy-dog-eyes charm, they all agree.

A sudden slamming sound and loud footsteps made the four of us look up. None of us had thought of how loud the fight had been. In hindsight it should have been obvious that someone downstairs must have heard the troll's roars as well as the other sounds of battle. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape and Quirrell bringing up the rear.

"Better late than never." I muttered quietly as Quirrell almost fainted pathetically at the sight of the troll.

Snape examined the unconscious troll while Professor McGonagall eyed Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I with a look that promised pain.

"What on earth were you all thinking?" Professor McGonagall yelled her voice cold as frost. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you all in your dormitory?"

"Professor they were looking for me and Hermione." I spoke up quietly focusing McGonagall's attention to me.

"Goodness Miss Thomas are you alright?" Professor McGonagall asked in a panic as she finally noticed the state of my robes and the extent of my injuries.

Smiling a bit I walk over to the wall, all eyes on me, as I study the wall along my limp arm and shoulder. I conjured a bit of leather and placed it in my mouth.

"Stop!" all of the gathered Professors yelled at me, realizing what I was about to do. Taking a deep breath I slam my shoulder into the wall popping the once useless limp back into place. A muffled yet still ear piercing scream escaped my lips as the bit fell from my jaws. Professor McGonagall and my friends rushed to my side, Harry and Ron supporting me along with the wall.

"I'll be alright now, though I should probably go to Madame Pomfrey anyway…" I tell them tiredly unable to hide the wince of pain that talking caused me.

Professor McGonagall clutched at her chest before calming down and continuing with her questions. "W-why were you two not at the feast?" Her stern demeanor returning as she addresses Hermione and me.

"That's my fault actually." I answered her. "I received news from home that my grandfather is very sick. I'm very close to him you see and after finding this out I wanted to be alone. I ended up hiding in here since many girls never come this far out of the way to use the toilet. Hermione tracked me down and we ended up just staying in here talking. We were able to get some food, and that must have been what attracted the troll. It must have smelled our dinner and was drawn to us." I lied; with far more skill than Clinton had when he said "_I did not have…sexual relations…with that woman_."

"I was able to get Hermione out of here but was cut off from the door by the troll. I would be dead right now if Hermione hadn't found Harry and Ron. They were able to levitate its club above its head and slam it down knocking it into a daze. I was then able to hit it in the legs with a Tripping Jinx causing it to crash head first into the wall knocking it unconscious." I finished tiredly taking large gulps of air, cringing a bit with every breath now that the adrenaline from the fight was fading.

"Is all of this true?" Professor McGonagall asked turning to the others.

"Yes Professor, every word." Hermione agrees with me while Harry nods his head relieved we didn't bust him and Ron. "And how did you two end up down here instead of the dorms." She looks to Harry and Ron with a frown.

"When we heard about the troll we knew that Hermione and Lina didn't know about it so we came to warn them. "Harry answered honestly, Ron agreeing with him and keeping his mouth shut.

"Well I should say you are all very lucky," she tells us all sternly. "Especially you Miss Thomas. And you two," she addressed Harry and Ron again. "Should have informed a Prefect or a Professor instead of running off on your own."

"I have a few questions to ask myself Minerva." Snape interrupted her from besides the troll, eyeing the four of us. "Miss Thomas…" he speaks my name with almost as much venom as he does Harry's. "Can you explain to me why I am seeing evidence of the Reductor, Cutting, and Blasting curses all over the room as well as on the troll?"

"What does that have to do with anything Severus?" McGonagall questioned him, eyebrow quirking in annoyance.

"I'm curious as to how a first year student was able to hold off a full grown mountain troll on her own, with spells well above her level. Spells she shouldn't even be aware of until at least her forth year." He turned to me with some kind of victorious smirk, no doubt attempting to get back at me somehow for my pedobear accusations to him earlier in the year.

"Umm…" I mumble for a moment while looking around at the warzone the bathroom had become. "…I like to read and take walks at the same time."

"So you are telling me that all of this…destruction is the outcome of a multiple walks. Do you take me for a fool?" He sneered at me viciously. "Large holes, slashes and scorches in the stone walls, conjured fire still burning and a chicken clucking away in the corner for some ridiculous reason…Preposterous!"

"Yes…they are VERY enthusiastic walks." I answer him with a large grin; causing everyone else in the room to anime drop.

'Thank you TeamFourStar you have yet to steer me wrong…hey maybe I can get everyone to refer to us as TeamFourStar since we can't be the Golden Trio with four people. Ohhh maybe we can be the Aqua Teen Hunger Force! No one will understand it but me but that's beside the point. It would be EPIC!' My internal monologue causing me to burst into quiet yet slightly psychotic sounding giggles. This earns me worried looks from my friends and causing Ron to take a rather large step away from me.

"Severus enough of this, how she learned the spells that saved her life is of no consequence. I for one have no problem with obviously gifted and advanced students reading more advanced texts. Not being able to stop them from buying more advanced books on their own is beside the point." McGonagall lectured him, earning a scowl and muttered curses from the grease-ball. "Each of you will receive ten points for coming to the aid of a fellow student." She tells my friends, earning grins from them, before turning to me. "And you Miss Thomas will receive twenty points for holding the troll off until help could arrive and for your knowledge of advanced spells."

I smile after regaining my composure and begin to thank her when a wave of dizziness overcomes me. I stumble a bit before blacking out.

-Break 3rd Person POV-

"Lina!" The battered and bruised first year was caught and set down on the floor by her friends.

"Professor what's wrong with her?" Hermione frantically asked her head of house who had drawn her wand and cast a diagnostic spell over the unconscious girl.

"Hmm it seems her magical core is greatly depleted. There are also some bruised ribs as well as the previously dislocated shoulder," she answered the brunette. "Hardly surprising judging from the state of the room we are in. Hmm it seems she also lost a fair bit of blood from the wound on her head." She mutters another spell causing the young redhead's body to float and follow her as she leaves. "I will bring her to the Hospital Wing you three," she addresses the trio. "Will go DIRECTLEY to the common room am I clear!"

"But what about Lina?" Harry asked her, worry clear on his face. "Will she be alright?"

"Yes it's nothing too serious as long as I don't dilly dally with her much longer. A night of pain reduction, anti-inflammation and blood replenishment potions, as well as a more thorough examination from Madame Pomfrey should do the trick." Her reply earning relieved looks from Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Now you three return to the common room, you may visit her after breakfast tomorrow." The three first years nod their heads and reluctantly head in the direction of Gryffindor tower while Professor McGonagall made her way to the Hospital Wing with her charge.

The three traveled in silence for a few minutes before Ron spoke up.

"Do you guys think Lina will let us join her on her walks?" His question earned a facepalm from Harry and a smack to the back of the head from Hermione. With a new friendship forged in the heat of battle with the troll, the three made plans to visit the fourth member of their group before saying good night and heading to their separate dorms.

-Break-

A/N: Well there's the new chapter for all of you. I spent a lot of time on the battle with troll to make it the best that I could and original as possible. Now if anyone is worried about the whole Sharingan making Lina completely broken and super Mary Sue, you don't have to worry. It won't even fully mature to a full three tomoes until the end of COS. Mangekyou will pop up sometime after that, but she won't be broken until TDH where she will be wrecking Death Eaters left and right during the battle of Hogwarts.

Oh and that son of a bitch SOPA is back. Damn thing must have Horcruxs or something. So sign petitions, call your Congressmen, Aldermen, whoever you need too to help kill this thing…again.


	6. Explanations and Broomsticks

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the familiar characters, scenes, or locations from the Potterverse that are found within this fic. They all belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever publishes the books/ebooks. If at any time the owner/s of the Potterverse wish for me to take down this fic then I will.

Warnings: Rated T right now for swearing, rating will go up as the story progress and the overall themes darken with the coming of the war.

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

_Book Titles_

**Spells**

-Break-

A Long Road to Peace Series

The Sorcerer's Stone: The First Step to Peace – Chapter 05: Explanations and Broomsticks

-Break-

It's been a week since the whole troll trying to kill us thing. I had a fun four days in the Hospital Wing under the sadistic…I mean tender care of Madame Pomfrey. For some odd reason I thought medical potions would end up tasting far better than Muggle medicine, you know since it's magical-ish. Oh how wrong I was, potions are much, much worse. Not to mention the ingredients to some of them are just plain disgusting. No matter how fast a pain relief potion works, I may never be able to take it again after looking it up in my book. Nope I'll stick to good ole fashion wee…I mean aspirin, that's right aspirin. Remember kid drugs are bad M'kay.

The majority of my time stuck in bed was spent staring into a hand mirror, focusing intently at my eyes. I've been attempting to reactivate the Sharingan almost constantly since getting my a** handed to me by the troll. There are only two things that kept me alive that day, the Sharingan and my friends' timely intervention. Unfortunately I haven't had any luck activating them again. I think I may have seen them change red for a split second once or twice but other than that nada. Speaking of the Sharingan, I had a fun time explaining it to my friends.

-Flashback-

It's the second day of my Hospital Wing stay, and Ron, Harry, and Hermione have decided to join me for lunch. Hermione being the kind, sweet, and loving girl that she is, brought a rather large pile of the Food of the Gods…Bacon! We all enjoy some quiet and friendly conversation during our lunch, me happily chewing on my delicious bacon-e goodness chatting with Hermione while Harry and Ron adamantly talk about Quidditch. It's not long until Madame Pomfrey joined our group, giving me a quick check-up and subtly ordering my friends to get her if anything suddenly happens to me, before she makes her way to the Great Hall for her own meal.

"Alright Lina, are you ready to tell us why your eyes were glowing red that day in the bathroom?" Harry asked me after Madame Pomfrey left, waiting a few minutes to make sure she didn't return suddenly.

"What was happening with that? It was creepy and cool at the same time." Ron added eager to learn something outside of Quidditch statistics…for once.

Hermione was nodding her head next to me, a little shine, similar to the twinkle that sometimes appears in Dumbledore's eyes, appearing in hers.

Seeing all of their expectant looks I sighed. Pausing the rapid consumption of the F.O.T.G. and began explaining about the Sharingan, though not telling them the entire truth of where it came from or how I know about it. I gave them the basic rundown of the Sharingan. I began explaining the different abilities that I could gain from it, once I figured out how to use it consciously. First thing I explained to them were the tomoes. How, depending on how many there were, was how you could tell just what I would be able to do.

With one in each eye, I am able to see magic. This basically makes me immune to illusions. That's why the walls, floor, and ceiling of Hogwarts looked like an almost solid wall of color. What I saw was all of the magic that runs through the castle. With two tomoe in one eye I am able to read and predict movements and trajectories faster than a normal Witch or Wizard would be able too. That's why everything seemed to slow down while I was dodging the troll. It was my brains way of coping with the information my new eyes were feeding it. Two tomoes in each eye will give me a near photographic memory of anything and everything I view with it active.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were staring at me in awe. I'm not too sure how well they were processing all the information I was dumping on them. After giving them a couple minutes to process, I continued my explanation.

"Now when the last tomoe appears in each eye the Sharingan is fully mature." I told them all while nibbling on my bacon again. "Two things are gained when the Sharingan fully matures…and that…" I trailed off mysteriously, all three of them leaning forward in anticipation.

"Well what happens?" Ron asked demanded excitedly.

"…is a s-e-c-r-e-t." I sing-songed to them. All three anime dropped so hard I could swore I felt the whole castle shake. And where was I you ask, why I was right there on the floor with them, rolling around laughing like crazy.

-Flashback End-

Now I did eventually tell them that with a fully mature Sharingan I can slightly hypnotize weak minded people as well as being able to almost perfectly copy, not only wand, but any kind of physical movement after seeing it once. After finally being discharged with orders to take it easy with my shoulder and ribs, I spent all of my free time in the library. Doing my best to catch up on all of the homework I missed while out of class and researching wandless magic once I was all caught up.

Wandless magic works by channeling magic from your core to your hands to cast different spells instead of it going to your wand. A witch or wizard's wand acts a focus or a magical lightning rod, which naturally and almost instantly calls forth the magic from your core and makes spell casting with the wand simple compared to without one. My theory is that since what I am trying to do, channeling magic to my eyes; is basically the same as channeling it to my hand for wandless casting. Now I have come to the conclusion that I won't be able to do the cool glowly eye trick whenever I want for a while…depressing.

So after almost a full week of hiding in the library under a mountain of books and research, I only have one thought stemming from my attempts to find a way to help me activate the Sharingan again. '_Stupid F***ing Uchihas! They get everything easy! Broke a** Doujutsu that does all the work for them AND they can just switch it on and off right away whenever they want with no work. Glad Itachi went all Michael Meyers on them!_' …Yeah I can be a petty and vindictive b****, sue me.

-Break-

It's the day before Harry's first Quidditch game of the year. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I are all relaxing in the Common Room. Well Ron and I are relaxing. Harry was sitting off to the side brooding over Snape making up some BS rule and using it to take the copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages _that Hermione lent him away. Hermione is sitting on my right, grumbling quietly while she double checked the boys' Charms essays for them. They wanted to just copy off one of us but that so wasn't happening. We flipped a coin to see who would have to proofread for them tonight, I won. Ron and I are currently in an epic battle of titanic proportions, me getting slaughtered in Wizard's Chess.

"Just how in the hell can you destroy me at chess yet you can never get your bloody homework done without either me or Hermione forcing you to do it? I asked him, eyebrow twitching as I stare at the board.

"Language." Hermione scolded me with a light swipe to the back of my head, all without looking away from the paper she was correcting.

Ron just shrugged, "Well chess is interesting." He commented while ordering his Queen to take my last Rook. "Checkmate," he finished with a smirk.

"You're terrible at this!" One of my own chess pieces yelled up to me, the rest of my pieces agreeing with the first one…loudly and in some cases obscenely.

I was slowly reaching for my wand while a large tic mark appeared on my head. '_Urge to kill…rising_.' Unfortunately my thoughts of chess piece genocide are foiled by Hermione. Without even bothering to look up from her work again, she grabbed my hand gently and pulled it away from the pocket where I keep my wand.

"No." She told me sternly.

"But…"

"No buts," she finishes before looking up from Harry's parchment and seeing the mischievous grin slowly spreading across my face. "And yes you do have a butt and it is very cute." I pouted when she cut me off, putting a stop to my fun before it could begin. Harry just sat there brooding away, not reacting to any of our witty back and forth banter.

All of the sudden Harry randomly stood up and started making his way to the portrait hole. "I'm going to see Snape," he told us over his shoulder.

"And you willingly want to do that because…" I asked him slowly, like you would a small child, as Ron and Hermione tilted their heads in confusion or curiosity.

He paused and turned to us. "I going to get my book back, he had no reason to take it in the first place." He told us before turning to leave again. We all shrugged our shoulders and went back to what we were doing.

"Good luck with that." I called to his retreating form, Ron and Hermione voicing similar farewells. Not sure how he did it but Ron talked me into another massacre that he called chess. My pieces were loudly, very loudly, yelling their protest. Hermione having finished with the essays rested her head on my shoulder to watch us play, trying to help me every now and then. Even when playing him two on one we only lasted a little bit longer than either of us does separately. It was about twenty minutes later that Harry came rushing back through the portrait hole.

"How did it go?" Ron asked him before check mating me and Hermione once again.

"Filch was with Snape in the teacher's lounge. He was bandaging up Snape's leg." He told us, breathing heavily, with a worried look. "Snape mentioned not being able to keep his eyes on all three heads at the same time. You know what this means don't you?" he asked us hurriedly.

"Nope, I have no idea what you're talking about," I told him,

"What are you trying to say Harry?" Hermione asked him, her confusion giving way to curiosity.

"He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween!" He turned to Ron "That's where he was going when we saw him. He must be after whatever it's guarding!" Ron's eyes widened, my brow furrowed and an incredulous look appeared on Hermione's face. "I'd bet my broomstick that he's the one let that troll in…to make a diversion!"

"No…he wouldn't," Hermione told him. "I know he's not very nice," she was cut off by three identical snorts, which she expertly ignored before continuing. "But he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," Ron snapped at her. "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?" Hermione huffed in annoyance at his dismissal before the three turned to me.

Holding my hands up in surrender I got up from my seat and backed away. "Don't look at me. I hate the grease ball as much as the next non-Slytherin and I agree that he is most likely up to something." Ron sent a smug look in Hermione direction before I continued. "But just because he's up to something doesn't necessarily mean he's trying to steal whatever the dog is guarding. Maybe it was time to clean up after the dog. I mean a dog that big must take some massive hmmp." Hermione quickly covered my mouth before I could finish my sentence. Harry and Ron gave me matching horrified looks as they realized, then visualized, what I was about to say.

"Well we should all be getting to bed. Especially you Harry, you're going to need your rest for tomorrow." Hermione told the boys while she dragged me toward our staircase.

"Trying to get me in bed aga…" My words are cut out off as she brandishes a roll of Spell-o-Tape, that she pulled out of who knows where, threateningly. "Shutting up now," I hastily told her with a nervous smile. Our antics earned quite a few sweat drops, not only from Harry and Ron but the rest of the common room as well.

-Break-

"You need to eat something." Hermione told Harry as she stole one of my plates and pushed it toward him."

"Hey that's mi…" My indignant cry of outrage was stifled by Hermione's harsh glare. "I mean, sharing is caring eh hehe." I laughed nervously the glare turn into a sweet smile as she continued her attempts to coax Harry to eat something.

'_Gahh her mood swings are worse than the troll's were._' I thought grumpily before returning to my breakfast.

"I'm not hungry." He muttered to her.

"Blasphemy!" I cried before diving over the table and tackling him to the ground. While holding him down Hermione handed me the piece of toast she had and I jammed it in his mouth, which was wide open in surprise from my sneak attack.

"Oww! Lina I said I wasn't hungry." He yelled at me after swallowing the toast. Hermione handed me another one as I fought with him to get it in his mouth.

"Uhh, shouldn't you be stopping her?" I heard Neville ask Hermione while she continued handing me different things to force feed Harry with.

"Normally I would, but he needs to eat. It's unhealthy to do any kind of strenuous active without a proper meal for energy." She answered him before finally pulling me off him.

"Was all that really necessary?" Harry grumbled; glare switching back and forth from me to Hermione.

"Of course it was…" I answered him with a cheeky grin. "…you're not excessively freaking out over the game anymore are you?"

He froze, contemplating my words for a moment. "Thanks…" he deadpanned. "...who knew that physical assault was just the thing to get my mind off the game."

"Anytime Harry…anytime," I patted him on the back before aiming my wand at Ron's last piece of bacon and summoning it right out of his hand.

"Oi!" He glared at me while. I just gave him an innocent pout before popping the bacon-e goodness into my mouth.

'_Food of the Gods!' _I thought blissfully.

-Break-

"You know what, Seekers must be beyond bored for like 99.9 percent of the game." I commented to no one in particular. Almost the whole castle is out in the stands of the Quidditch pitch watching the first game of the year. It's been about a half hour since the start of the game. Every single person on a broomstick is battling it out like world war 3…except Harry and the random Slytherin Seeker I don't know.

Ron gave me an incredulous look. "What are you talking about? The game can't end until the Snitch is caught. That makes Seekers one of the key players."

"Well, all the action is down here," I told him pointing to the battling Chasers as they raced up and down the pitch. "And Harry has been up there just floating around, looking incredibly bored if you ask me." With the look he gave me you would think I just sprouted a second head or something.

Hermione nodded, agreeing with me. "I just don't understand the fanatical draw that this game has." Ron does the smart thing for once, keeping quiet with a disbelieving shake of his head he focused back on the game.

"Oi that's cheating you dirty snakes!" He jumped up and yelled to one of the Slytherin Chasers who attempted to ram Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, into the stands. Madame Hooch who was refereeing the match of course missed this entirely as a Bludger was "accidently" sent in her direction

"GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" Lee Jordan, a friend of the Weasley twins, whom was the one announcing the game, roared into his microphone. Loud cheers erupted all around us at our team taking the lead.

"Budge up there, move along now." A deep and booming voice called out from behind us.

"Hagrid!" Ron and Hermione greeted the groundskeeper with surprise while I waved a hello. Ron and Hermione quickly scooted over to make enough space so Hagrid could sit with us. Not sure how it happened but Hermione ended up in my lap. Our eyes locked on one another for a moment before we both looked away quickly with matching blushes.

I glanced at her again and quickly attempted to diffuse the awkward situation. "And your forwardness continues Miss Granger. I am seriously beginning to worry about my chastity." I grinned, waggling my eyebrows.

My words had the desired effect as the awkward atmosphere disappeared. She puffs out her cheeks in annoyance and slapped my shoulder playfully. "Oh just hush up and watch the game…unless you want the tape again." She finished with an evil grin and pulled a roll of tape out of nowhere.

"Oh look Quidditch, yay!" I cheered nervously looking to the game again.

'_She is really scary when she wants to be_.' I thought.

A few minutes later we heard Lee mention seeing the Snitch. Harry and the Slytherin Seeker took off after it as it flew by another Slytherin player's head. Hermione clutched my arm tightly in fear when Harry started an extremely fast dive/race with the opposing Seeker. Everyone in the stadium seemed to freeze, watching the battle for the Snitch, even the rest of the players. Everyone unfroze as Harry, who was about to catch the Snitch, was rammed off course by the Slytherin captain and sent spinning in the air.

Hermione, Ron, and I all jumped to our feet voicing our displeasure along with the rest of the Gryffindor, as well as some of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff stands.

"Oi!/Cheater!/A**hole!" All three of us yelled at the same time. Judging from the actual red I saw for a few seconds my Sharingan must have activated unconsciously again. When my vision returned to normal a random thought crossed my mind.

'_If I ever figure out how these damn eyes work I would make a killing as a professional Seeker_.'

Play resumed after Gryffindor was given a free shot for the foul. We all sat back down again after seeing Harry, looking relatively unharmed; start to circle the pitch again. Hermione settled back on my lap, wiggling a bit to get more comfortable, with no sign of the awkwardness this time around. It's not long after Harry narrowly dodged a Bludger sent for his head when his broom started bucking around wildly.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled as we watched him stare through his binoculars. "If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom…but he can't have.…"

"Dammit Harry." I muttered as more people were finally noticing something was up. Many in the stands pointed up at Harry as his broom started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. I swore loudly when another powerful jerk had nearly knocked Harry completely off, him only managing to hang on by one hand. Hermione overcome with worry tore her gaze from Harry and hid her face in my shoulder while I absentmindedly rubbed her back in an attempt to calm and reassure her, keeping my eyes trained on Harry.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" I heard Seamus ask to no one in particular.

"Can't have," Hagrid answered, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic. No kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

At these words, Hermione jumped off my lap and seized Hagrid's binoculars before she quickly began searching the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Ron moaned.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped, "Snape."

"What!" Ron grabbed the binoculars and looked towards the teachers stand, quickly finding said Dracula wannabe. "Greasy headed git!" He swore before I snatched the binoculars from him and had a look for myself. Snape had his eyes locked on Harry and he was muttering something nonstop.

"He's doing something. Jinxing the broom," said Hermione angrily.

"What should we do?" Ron asked her.

"Leave it to me." She told us before rushing off.

"I'll go with her, keep an eye on Harry!" I said over my shoulder as I ran after Hermione.

We made our way through the stands dodging spectators left and right, knocking over Professor Quirrell as we reached Snape. I ignored the sudden chill traveled up my spine as we crouched down and pulled out our wands. We nodded to each other before casting a quiet **Incendio** targeting his robes. Once his robes were lit we made our escape without being seen. A few seconds later we heard Snape's yell of surprise telling us that our plan worked.

"Look Mione he's fine!" I told her, excitedly pointing up to Harry. We watched as he swung his leg back onto his broom and took off in another suicidal dive after a glint of gold that had flown by him moments before.

"Not again," She moaned hiding in my shoulder again. "We saved him just so HE could be the one to kill himself."

I chuckled as I rubbed her back again. "Well we could always just kill him ourselves," I whispered to her. "Save him and Snape the trouble."

She snorted and looked at me. "It would save time wouldn't it?" She said in an annoyed tone.

"HE'S DONE IT! HARRY POTTER AS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" We heard Lee's excited announcement and the deafening roar of the crowd.

"Come on, I think we have some lumps to dish out." I told her with a mischievous grin, gesturing to the middle of the pitch where Harry was being swarmed by his teammates and the rest of our house. "You can have first crack at him."

With a grin that mirrored my own she pulled out her wand again as we made our way to Harry. With a flick of her wand bucket of water appeared above Harry's head. It tilted before simultaneously drenching and falling on his head. "HARRY JAMES POTTER!" She roared at him while he sputtered and peeked from under the bucket, looking just a tad bit terrified…smart boy.

'_Ah feminine fury, the most dangerous magic of all._' I mused as I watched Hermione rip into Harry like a lioness rips into an antelope.

-Break-

After Hermione finished taking Harry apart verbally, we made our way to Hagrid's for a celebratory/calming cup of tea. Though the calming part didn't last too long as a small argument/debate broke out between Hagrid and us.

"It was Snape, we all saw him," Ron explained to Hagrid and Harry while he gestured to himself, me and Hermione. "He was cursing your broomstick Harry!"

"Rubbish," Hagrid answered, I don't think noticed our worried conversation during the game. You would think he would since his binoculars were snatched right out of his hands. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another before turning to me. I just shrugged my shoulders, telling them I'd go with whatever they decided.

Harry made up his mind a moment and started with the truth. "I found out something about him," he told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot, I flicked my wand and the pieces flew back together. He muttered a quiet thank you before continuing.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he asked us.

"Fluffy!?" We all asked in unison.

I fell down laughing a few seconds later "Fluffy, that's a good one Hagrid, name giant three headed dog Fluffy!" I looked up at him holding a stitch in my side. "You're Serious?" I asked him when I saw he wasn't laughing.

I thought I heard him mutter something like, "No he's in Azkaban," but forgot about it a minute later when he continued. "Yeah he's mine. I bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year, I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the…"

"Yes?" We asked eagerly and maybe too innocently.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," Hagrid said gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it." Ron tried.

"Rubbish," Hagrid answered again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher; he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" Hermione cried out in outrage. I patted her on the shoulder and Harry sent her a look of thanks for the support. "I know a jinx when I see one Hagrid. I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all. We all saw him!" She finished with mad gestures to Ron and me.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid replied hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh. Yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin'. That's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel…"

"Aha!" Harry grinned triumphantly, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself as he let us out, muttering quiet curses.

"Well that was informative." Hermione started as we made our way back to the castle.

"Yup," I agreed with her. "You know what this means don't you?" I asked her with a grin.

"TOO THE LIBRARY!" we cheered in unison, Harry and Ron groaned loudly and hung their heads.


End file.
